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THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL 
PSYCHOLOGY 



(Third and Enlarged Edition) 

THE OUTLINES OF 

Educational Psychology 

An Introduction to the Science of Education 



BY 



WILLIAM HENRY PYLE, Ph.D. 

Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology in the University of Missouri 




WARWICK & YORK, Inc. 






Copyright, 1911, 

By 

WARWICK & YORK, Inc. 

Copyright, 1912, 

By 

WARWICK & YORK, Inc. 



©CI.A330444 



CONTENTS 
Chapter I 

INTRODUCTION 

The educational situation, the aim of education, the 
nature of children, the nature of the educational 
process, method, educational psychology, edu- 
cation and psychology, education a process of ad- 
justment, rage 1 

Chapter II 

BODY AND MIND 

The evolution of the body, the evolution of the mind, 

evolution and education, body and mind. Page. . 13 

Chapter III 

HEREDITY 

What we mean by heredity, the mechanism of heredity, 
the laws of heredity, mental heredity, special 
facts of heredity, social heredity, educational in- 
ferences. Page 24 

Chapter IV 

INSTINCTS 

Definition and description, experimental studies, in- 
stincts in man, transitoriness and periodicity of 
instincts, order of development, early specialisa- 
tion of instincts, classification of instincts. Page 35 



VI CONTENTS 

Chapter V 

THE INDIVIDUALISTIC INSTINCTS 

Nature and number, fear, pedagogy of fear, the fight- 
ing instinct, causes of anger, manifestations of 
anger, control and treatment, competition in the 
schoolroom. Page 48 

Chapter VI 

THE SOCIAL INSTINCTS 

The gang instinct, churns, gangs and clubs, why gangs 
are formed, high school fraternities, sympathy 
and co-operation. Page 61 

Chapter VII 

THE ENVIRONMENTAL INSTINCTS 

The migration of lower animals, truancies and runa- 
ways, causes of truancies, the school and the 
migratory instinct, the collecting instinct, its 
universality, its development, pedagogy of the col- 
lecting instinct. Page 74 

Chapter VIII 

THE adaptive INSTINCTS — PLAY 

Physiological considerations, definitions and theories, 
development of play instinct, play and moral 
character, the pedagogy of play, play of adults. 
Page 91 



CONTENTS Vll 

Chapter IX 

THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — IMITATION 

Description and definition, psychological explanation, 
imitation in lower animals, function and impor- 
tance, education and imitation, school manage- 
ment and imitation, contrary suggestion, chil- 
dren's ideals. Page 108 

Chapter X 

HABIT 

Nature of habit, function of habit, importance in edu- 
cation, the ethics of habit, laws of habit forma- 
tion, repetition, repetition in attention, pleasur- 
able repetition, habit and attitude. Page 124 

Chapter XI 

HABIT AND EDUCATION 

Function of the teacher, repetition and practice, ex- 
ceptions, rules for habit formation, habits are 
specific. Page 146 

Chapter XII 

HABIT AND MORAL TRAINING 

Importance of the problem, futility of recent dis- 
cussions, moral training and psychology, must be 
based on definite principles, the instincts and 
moral training, inhibition, repetition and moral 
training, the school and the home in moral train- 
ing, practical moral training, the emotions, 
actions and character, objections considered. 
Page 164 



VllI CONTENTS 

Chapter XIII 

MEMOllY 

Meaning of memory, experimental studies, relation 
of memory to age and sex, improvement of mem- 
ory by practice, conditions atfecting retention, 
first impression, number of repetitions, value of 
associations, economical learning, transfer of 
memory training, relation of memory to intelli- 
gence, function of the teacher in memory work. 
Page 185 

Chapter XIV 

ATTENTION 

Neurological point of view, active and passive atten- 
tion, function of attention, attention and educa- 
tion, training the attention. Page 206 

Chapter XV 

THINKING 

Association of ideas, imagination, thinking, training 
in reasoning, meaning, reason and education. 
Page 221 

Chapter XVI 

FATIGUE 

Nature of fatigue, measure of fatigue, the psychologi- 
cal methods, complicating phenomena, the three 
phases of fatigue, length of school sessions and 
school periods, the pedagogy of fatigue. Page . . . 239 

Chapter XVII 

Tests and Norms. Page 2.54 

The Appendix. Page 269 



PREFACE. 

The fact that we have had no general text-book in educa- 
tional psychology has led to the preparation of this book, 
which is the outgrowth of the work with my own classes. 
I have endeavored to select for treatment those facts and 
principles of psychology, fairly well established, that have 
evident and direct bearing upon the problems of teaching. 
The time is at hand when every step in educational pro- 
cedure must have scientific justification. This can come 
in the main from only one source, — the crucial test of ex- 
perimental determination. If this volume contributes, in 
some small measure, toward the end of making education 
more scientific, I shall feel that its publication will be 
justified. It has been my aim to be careful and conserva- 
tive, to keep within the warrant of established fact. How- 
ever, I realize that nearly every page shows the need of 
more facts, more data. Experimental psychology is a thing 
of only yesterday; educational psychology is a new-born 
infant of today. But it is an infant of great promise. The 
army of trained investigators that is attacking the myriad 
problems of the school, will give us, even in a decade, re- 
sults of great importance to education. But the work must 
be carefully done. 

It is my belief that a text-book should be a mere outline, 
to be elaborated by teacher and students. The questions 
and exercises and the references will help toward this 
elaboration. The questions, for the most part, are selected 

ix 



X THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

from those asked by my students when the matter of this 
book was presented to them in class. The references are 
to such English sources as I have found most helpful. 
They fall into two classes : (1) parallel systematic treatises 
and (2) the original reports of experimental work. In 
neither case, however, are the references complete. They 
are intended only on the one hand to refer the student to 
other, and often more extended, treatments of the same 
subjects, and on the other, to give the beginning student 
some idea of the nature of the investigations on which the 
statements of the text are based. 

My indebtedness, direct and indirect, is great. Directly, 
I am indebted most of all, to Dr. W. L. Bryan, president of 
Indiana University, my first teacher in psychology ; to Dr. 
E. B. Titchener, Sage professor of psychology in the grad- 
uate school of Cornell University, in whose laboratory I 
learned something of scientific method ; and to Dr. G. M. 
Whipple of Cornell, who has shown the possibilities of 
applying this method to the solution of school-room prob- 
lems. 

Indirectly, my greatest debt is to President G. Stanley 
Hall and the late Professor James. My thanks are also 
due to President A. Boss Hill and Dean W. W. Charters 
of the University of Missouri, and to my brother, J. O. 
Pyle, of Chicago, who have read most of the manuscript 
and given valuable suggestions. 

W. H. P. 

COLUMBIA_, Mo., 

September 1, 1911. 



THE OUTLINES OF 

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

Chapter I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The educational situation. — The educational prac- 
tice of the past has not been based on science as 
medical practice or good farming is now based on 
scientific principles. This, of course, does not mean 
that there has never been any good teaching. Long 
before there was a science of medicine many good 
remedies were discovered empirically, although little 
was known concerning the principles of drugs or the 
nature of their physiological action, nor was any- 
thing definite known concerning the nature and 
causes of disease. Now, however, medical practice 
has a scientific basis. Much the same can be said of 
farming. For thousands of years man has been till- 
ing the soil, and by the slow trial and success method 
has learned many good practices, but he has not 
understood the nature of the forces with which he 
has dealt. He has not known what caused success 
or failure. The farmer of today can have sufficient 
scientific facts to make his procedure entirely intel- 
ligent. Although he can never have complete control 
of the conditions of his work, he can understand these 

[1] 



Z THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

conditions, and can foresee the outcome of given 
situations. 

The practice of education has had a similar his- 
tory. We have had some great teachers in the past, 
but none of them has understood much of the real 
nature of what he was doing. If the great teachers 
themselves have known little of the nature of the 
material with which they dealt or the causes of their 
success, much less could their followers know. They 
could only imitate, with next to no knowledge of the 
princii)les which underlay their master's success. 
Systems of education have, for the most part, been 
based on some philosophical or religious conception. 
It is not correct to say that these systems have all 
been wrong; there has been, perhaps, some truth in 
all of them, just as there has been a grain of truth in 
most systems of philosophy. For example, some of 
Plato's ideas on education as expressed in the Re- 
puhlic can now be scientifically justified. 

It has been impossible to have a science of educa- 
tion for the very simple reason that the data that 
must form a basis for the principles of such a science 
have not been at hand. What facts must be known 
before we can have a science of education? They 
fall into four groups: (1) the aim of education; (2) 
the nature of children; (3) the essential character- 
istics of the educational process, and (4) method, 
i. e., the most economical procedure in attaining the 
first through the knowledge contributed by the sec- 
ond and third and by direct investigation made for 
this sole purpose. 

The aim of education. — Society at any given time 
prescribes the type of individual to which it thinks 



INTRODUCTION . 3 

the children of that generation should be made to 
conform. Education is the institution of society that 
is to achieve that end, i. e., train the children for 
action in accordance with the ideals of the times. 
Just what the type is, depends on the ideals of the 
age, and could be determined for any given time and 
people by studying their social ideals. The ideal 
individual leads such a life as conduces to the general 
well-being of society. At the present time in our own 
country there is pretty general agreement as to what 
this means. The adult male must support himself 
and family, and in his relations with his fellow men 
must so conduct himself as to lead to mutual com- 
fort and happiness. It might seem that if this view 
of the aim and purpose of education is true, progress 
would be impossible. But such is not the case. The 
people of one generation can sometimes see that in 
some respect or other their relations and adjust- 
ments could be improved. It is then possible for 
them to bring up their children in such a way that 
the children, when grown, will come nearer to the 
better way of living. Education, then, is to achieve 
social efficiency; it is the conscious effort of society 
to give the young such information and such training 
as will enable them to produce ever a more perfect 
social life. And doubtless the ideal of social organi- 
sation will be that condition that will allow and make 
possible for all the greatest possible individual devel- 
opment of capacity to achieve and enjoy. Society 
exists for the individual and the individual exists for 
society, while education is the process of preparing 
the individual for his life in society and of making a 
better society. Every person who is to be a teacher 



4 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGT 

should be a student of tlie science of sociology in 
order that he may understand society and its insti- 
tutions, their origin, their evolution and their func- 
tion. A teacher without such knowledge can only 
grope blindly after an unknown object, but with such 
knowledge he can work consciously to achieve the 
highest social ideals. 

The nature of children. — A child is a psychophys- 
ical being, that is, a being that is both mind and body. 
There are, therefore, two sciences that contribute the 
second group of facts for a science of education — 
biology and psychology. Biology tells us about the 
body, its organs and their functions, its growth and 
development and its evolution from lower animal 
forms. Psychology tells us about mind, its elements 
and the laws of their combination and organisation. 
Psychology tells us also about the development of 
individual minds and of the evolution of mind in the 
animal kingdom. That this second group of facts is 
necessary for a science of education is evident, for 
education is blind unless the teacher knows the laws 
of bodily and mental growth and function. The 
teacher must know something of nerves and muscles 
and their conditions of growth and activity ; he must 
know something of the physical organs and the con- 
ditions of their healthy functioning. He must know 
something of sense organs and how to test their effi- 
ciency. He must know something of instincts, of 
habits, of perception, memory, imagination, feeling, 
association and attention. Accurate knowledge on 
these subjects is absolutely necessary for intelligent 
procedure in teaching. 



INTEODUCTION 

The nature of the educational process. — The 
teacher must also know the exact nature of the edu- 
cational process. What is taking place in the child 
when he is being educated? What is the child doing 
while he is being educated? What is possible and 
what is impossible? What is the function of the 
teacher? These and many more similar questions 
demand a scientific answer. Both sociology and psy- 
chology answer this question and both answer it in 
the same way, namely, in terms of adjustment. 
Sociology says education is the process by which 
young individuals are trained to participate in social 
life. From the point of view of psychology, educa- 
tion is essentially a process of habit-formation. The 
new individual is to be acquainted with this material 
and social world and trained in the appropriate 
responses to be made in all the varied situations of 
life. There are, of course, two aspects of education : 
(1) getting information about the world and (2) mak- 
ing the right response in the light of this information. 
But the second factor is the ultimate end, for we need 
the information only to guide action. If we did not 
have to move, to respond, we should have no need of 
sense organs, no need of mind. It has only been the 
growing complexity of movement, response, that has 
necessitated the development of sense organs through 
which we learn of the world. In this process of ad- 
justment the function of the teacher is limited and 
his possibilities circumscribed. The utmost that he 
can do is to manipulate the environment of the child. 
Both biology and psychology tell us that the child 
comes to us with a body and mind inherited from his 
ancestors, with many definite responses already pro- 



b THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

vided for in the neuro-musciilar system. Heredity, 
then, sets the first limitation; we can work only 
within the limits set by heredity. And in a certain 
sense the child is unapi^roachable, unassailable, he 
can not be touched, he can not be changed ; he is au- 
tonomous, he assimilates, he grows. Within certain 
limits we can change his environment. We can have 
something to do with the outcome of the child's 
actions in the way of pleasure and pain, we can make 
conditions favorable for the activity of one instinct 
or another, but more than this we can not do, and it 
is well that we know it. Education, then, is a process 
of adjustment that teachers and parents can par- 
tially guide and control by virtue of their power to 
change and manipulate the child's environment. 

Method. — Sociology gives us the aim of education, 
biology and psychology give us the nature of the 
child, psychology explains the essential nature of the 
educational process. Psychology also gives us a 
scientific basis for method. Of course, method can 
sometimes be inferred from the nature of the child, 
so that the second grouji of facts, in the largest sense, 
would include the fourth, but the fourth group of 
facts deserves independent statement and treatment 
because every detail of method must have separate 
and indpendent determination by experimental pro- 
cedure, although it is true that this procedure is 
always dependent upon the nature of mind. The best 
methods of teaching children to read, to spell, to 
write, to draw, to think, in a word to do all the vari- 
ous things that we want to learn to do, must be deter- 
mined experimentally, for in very few cases can they 
be entirely determined by a priori considerations. 



INTRODUCTION / 

So complex are mind and its operations that the na- 
ture of every aspect of its operation must have inde- 
pendent determination. 

Educational psychology. — The term educational 
psycliology is to some extent a misnomer, for there is 
really only one kind of i:)sychology, the science which 
undertakes to work out the structure, function and 
genesis of mind. Educational psychology, as now 
generally understood, treats of the application of the 
principles of psychology to education. It is, indeed, 
more than a chapter in applied psychology, and per- 
haps deserves to rank as a distinct subdivision of 
jDsychology. Psychology has for its problem the de- 
scription of mind in general; this description it 
works out in its o^vn way and in its own time as its 
purely scientific interests demand. Educational psy- 
chology takes over for its province that aspect of 
general psychology that has most immediate connec- 
tion with education. The problems of the general 
psychologists arise out of the needs of the science 
as a whole ; the problems of the educational psychol- 
ogist arise out of the needs of education. The meth- 
ods and procedure of the latter are, in general, the 
same as those of the former. Educational psychol- 
ogy, then, attacks a part of the problem of general 
psychology, and the only excuse for its existence as 
a separate subdivision is that education can not 
afford to wait upon the development of psychology 
as a whole, for psychology as such is not concerned 
with problems of education. However, since educa- 
tional psychology has taken over a specific part of 
general psychology, its problems have taken on a 
specific character and its laboratory has its special 



8 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

equipment. The educational psychologist must have 
the same training as the general psychologist, and, 
in addition, be familiar with the problems and condi- 
tions of the school room, for he is to be concerned 
with just those aspects of psychology that have 
closest connection with these problems and con- 
ditions. 

Education and psychology. — By reference to our 
discussion of the four problems of education, it will 
be seen how much education must get from psychol- 
ogy, making educational psychology almost the 
whole of the science of education. The knowledge 
of the nature of the child must come in part from 
psychology, while the nature of the educational 
process and method must come almost wholly from 
psychology, and only in small part from biology. A 
detailed statement of the divisions of these problems 
will show the topics that are to be treated in this 
book. Our discussion of the nature of the child must 
include a statement of the facts of mental evolution 
and mental heredity, the order and laws of mental 
development, particularly the development of the in- 
stincts and all the various mental structures and func- 
tions, — feeling, perception, imagination, attention, 
memory, association, thought and action, especially 
of habits and the laws of their formation. The na- 
ture of the educational process will receive no fur- 
ther treatment than is given in the following para- 
graph, but many of the other topics discussed either 
directly or indirectly throw light on this question 
also. The scientific basis of method lies partly in the 
facts of mental structure, function and development, 
from which they are inferred or deduced, and partly 



INTRODUCTION if 

in the results of special investigations, which have 
for their sole purpose the experimental determina- 
tion of economic methods of learning. We must also 
treat of method, not only from the point of view of 
general development, but also taking into considera- 
tion individual variation and abnormal types. 

Education a process of adjustment. — Both psychol- 
ogy and biology, as well as sociology, consider edu- 
cation to be a process of adjustment. A considera- 
tion of the life of lower animals will make the mean- 
ing clear. Many, perhaps most, of the lower animals 
need no training; they come into existence with 
proper adjustments for life already provided for in 
the neuro-muscular system. Most of them have no 
infancy ; from the first their life and life-adjustments 
are perfect and complete. Such animals do not have 
to learn, and, in fact, profit little by experience. But 
in higher animals, especially man, the young are born 
more or less helpless and with their responses more 
or less imperfectly adjusted ; they have a period of 
infancy, during which they acquire the proper ad- 
justments to the environment ; in other words, they 
have a period of plasticity, during which they acquire 
knowledge of their environment and training in the 
proper responses to make to it. The long infancy in 
man is one of the chief factors that give him his con- 
spicuous advantage over the lower animals. Sociol- 
ogy tells us that infancy, by making necessary the 
development of the family, has made our civilisation 
possible. From the point of view of genetic psychol- 
ogy, infancy is no less important, for it serves as a 
period for training in adjustment. The only limita- 
tion to this training is that set by heredity, i. e., by 



10 THE OUTLINES OE EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

inherited structure and tlie instincts. Within these 
limits a wide variation of adjustment is possible. 
Almost any response can be formed for any situa- 
tion. Without the period of infancy, adjustment to 
our complex modern life would be impossible. But 
with this period the only limit to social progress is, 
as we have said, that fixed by heredity. Life itself 
is adjustment, and education is . the perfecting of 
adjustments during the early years of life. It 
is therefore a process of training in adjustment 
and of perfecting and fixing the adjustments. It 
has, as already pointed out, two aspects: (1) 
impression and (2) expression. Training con- 
sists in receiving impressions and learning and 
perfecting expressions. Knowledge and habit are, 
therefore, the two poles of education. From this 
point of view parents and teachers become guides for 
the child, and should take him by the hand and lead 
him through all the varied natural and social envi- 
ronment, and, by controlling and manipulating this 
environment, guide and determine the responses and 
adjustments formed by the child. But, as pointed 
out already, this is the utmost that can be done. 
What the child becomes is the resultant of two 
forces, the child and the world. The teacher can to 
some extent determine what this world shall be, but 
this is all. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY. 

1. Is it true that the people of any community are agreed as 
to the qualities or attributes of an ideal citizen? Are they agreed 
as to the studies that should be pursued in school? 

2. Make out a list of the twenty characteristics you consider 
most desirable in an American citizen. Arrange them in the order 
of their importance. Name five characteristics on which there is 



INTRODUCTION H 

not general agreement. Would the savage American Indian have 
agreed to your list of twenty characteristics? Will your list be 
acceptable 5000 years from now? What changes, in this respect, 
have you undergone in your own lifetime? 

3. Does adjustment to surroundings mean submitting to these 
surroundings without modifying them? 

4. Is there any conflict between the interests of the individual 
and those of society? 

5. Is society itself merely an Institution existing for the good 
it may do for the Individual? 

6. Does psychology have anything to say about the character- 
istics of the ideal citizen? About the aim of education? Are tliore 
any facts that tell us the kind of individual that we ought to be? 
Why, for example, do you think people should be honest and 
truthful? 

7. Can the development of the individual be made the aim of 
education? 

8. Should a child's training in adjustment to his environment 
be equal for all parts of this environment? What rule can you 
give that will cover this matter? 

9. If our ancestors throughout all the past have got along with- 
out a science of education, why can we not still get along without 
It? Why will not the methods of rearing children of 10,000 years 
ago be adequate at the present time? 

10. Mention some defect in educational procedure due to Ig- 
norance. Point out some defects in your own home or school train- 
ing due to ignorance of parents or teachers. 

11. Name some pioneers in the field of educational psychology. 

12. Name some specific points on which information would en- 
able you to make a better teacher or parent. 

13. What is the significance of the terms "willing" and "able" 
in Miinsterberg's definition of the aim of education? 

14. If a person does not do as well as he knows, what defect in 
his training does this indicate? 

15. Mention some principles of education held by Plato that can 
now be scientifically justified. 

REFERENCES. 

On the educational situation, G. Stanley Hall, Educational Prob- 
lems, 1911, the introduction. 

For discussions of the aim and nature of education : 

H. Miinsterberg, Psychology and the Teacher, 1909, Ch. Ix. (From 
the point of view of the philosopher.) 

M. V. O'Shea, Education as Adjustment, Chs. iv and v. 

W. C. Bagley, The Educative Process, 1905, Pt. 1. 

N. M. Butler, The Meaning of Education, Ch. 1. 

F. E. Bolton, Principles of Education, 1910, Ch. I. 

J. W. Jenks, Citizenship and the Schools, 1906. (From the point 
of view of the political economist.) 



12 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

H. H. Donaldson, TJie Growth of the Brain, 1895, Chs. xvlii and 
xix. (From the point of view of the physiologist.) 

C. A. Ellwood, Sociology and Modern Social Problems, 1910, Ch. 
XV. (From the point of view of the sociologist.) 

C. W. Eliot, Education for Efliciency, 1909, Ch. i, Education for 
Efficiency ; Ch. ii. The New Definition of the Cultivated Man. 

The Significance of Infancy : 

John Fiske, Excursions of an Evolutionist, Ch. xii, or in The Des- 
tiny of Man, Ch. iv and v, or in Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, 
Vol. ii, 344. 

A. F. Chamberlain, The Child, 1900, Ch. i. 

On the relation of Psychology to Education : 

E. L. Thorndike, Journal of Educational Psychology, 1910, Vol. 1, 
p. 5. 

E. A. Kirkpatrick, Journal of Educational Psychology, 1910, Vol. 
1, p. 76. 

G. Stanley Hall, Adolescence, 1904, the preface ; also Vol. ii, pp. 
496-497. 

H. Miinsterberg, Psychology and the Teacher, 1909, Chs. xi and 
xii. 

John Dewey, Psychological Review, 1900, Vol. vii, 105. 

William James, Talks to Teachers, 1899, Ch. 1. 



Chapter II. 
BODY AND MIND. 

The background of psychology is biology, and 
although our interest here is strictly psychological, 
certain biological presuppositions and considera- 
tions, as well as certain psychophysical relations, 
are necessary to make our treatment of mental devel- 
opment fully intelligible. 

The evolution of the body. — ' ' The doctrine of evo- 
lution merely states that the animal world as it exists 
is naturally developed out of the animal world as it 
existed yesterday. " It is only a statement of the fact 
that the temporal relations of phenomena are causal ; 
the events of today grew out of the events of yester- 
day, those of yesterday out of those of the day be- 
fore, and so on back. The animals of today are the 
natural descendants of the animals of the past, the 
plants of today of the plants of the past ; in fact, the 
inorganic, as well as the organic, world is believed to 
proceed causally from one phenomenon to another. 
Gravitation and evolution are twin conceptions that 
bring order out of chaos, put meaning into otherwise 
meaningless facts. The law of gravity merely states 
the fact of the orderly arrangement and relation of 
things in space, and the law of evolution states the 
fact of the orderly arrangement of phenomena in 
time. They might very well be called the laws of the 
orderly arrangement of phenomena in time and 

[18] 



14 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

space. "We must, of course, bear in mind that a law 
for natural science is no more than a shorthand state- 
ment of the relationships and uniformities that exist 
in a body of facts. 

The old view of the world was static. Events were 
looked upon as more or less independent and the re- 
sult of chance. Few men even dreamed of the great, 
underlying, interpenetrating relationship existing 
among all things. History was largely the chron- 
icling of unrelated events; science, a catalogue of 
unrelated facts. Species of animals and plants were 
supposed to have originated separately and inde- 
pendently, each the result of a special creation. The 
actions of man were supposed to be the result of his 
own capricious choice, uncaused. In contrast with 
this view of the world, the present view may be called 
dynamic. We look upon all things as in flux, yester- 
day flowing into today and today flowing into tomor- 
row. Notliing is uncaused, order pervades all things. 
A complete understanding of the conditions of one 
situation is the full explanation of the next situation. 
This view now pervades all thought in science, phil- 
osophy, literature and history. In fact, the dynamic 
view is a presupposition of all science. The mind of 
the scientist thinks in terms of evolution. To illus- 
trate: the historian of today no longer hunts for 
facts merely, but for underlying movements and 
tendencies on which the events float as leaves upon 
a river. The naturalist of today sees in species only 
the resultant of the interplay of environmental 
forces, acting upon the species of the past. We have 
called the static view old and the dynamic view mod- 
ern; but it must be said that the dynamic view was 



BODY AND MIND 15 

known and held by many ancient Greek philosophers. 
It did not, however, enter into the general thought 
of mankind till modern times. Darwin's Origin of 
Species was published in 1859, and this date may be 
considered to mark the beginning of a movement 
which has revolutionised modern thought. It is not 
our purpose here to enter into the proofs of evolu- 
tion — for this the reader must go to biology — but 
only to state the modern view in order to point out 
its educational significance. 

The evolution of the mind. — The evolution of the 
mind is, in a sense, a correlate of the evolution of the 
body. The brain and nervous system have developed 
along with the comj^lexity of body structure. There 
can no longer be any doubt that mind has developed 
from great simplicity among lower forms of animals 
to the more complex mental activity of the higher 
animals and man. In the animal kingdom as it now 
exists we find mind in all its various stages of devel- 
opment. And if we study the mind of any single 
human individual we find it at first relatively simple, 
and acquiring day by day new structures and func- 
tions quite analogous to the development of the body. 
To any one who makes such a study there can be no 
question of the development of the individual mind, 
for it takes place before our very eyes. And every- 
thing that we know about mental life points to the 
evolution of mind in general. And just as the evolu- 
tion of the body is a presupposition of the biologist, 
so the evolution of mind is a presupposition of the 
psychologist. 

Evolution and education. — It is very important 
that teachers have the evolutionary point of view, — > 



16 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

that they see in the child the product, the outcome of 
the past. They must know that the race has been 
hammered out in the forge of nature, that the child 
bears in its every feature the imprint of the past. 
The teacher must know that the same forces and 
conditions of the environment that have brought 
about the development of the race still act upon the 
child. If these forces and conditions have brought 
us up out of savagery, they must at least be the start- 
ing point for modern education, for our bodies and 
minds presuppose these conditions. 

The doctrine of evolution must enter into the gen- 
eral philosophy of the teacher and be a part of his 
mental equipment. In addition to this general effect 
of the doctrine, we are indebted to it for several spe- 
cific aspects of modern education either for their ori- 
gin or justification. (1) Sequence of development in 
the life of the child, which makes education possible, 
is a part of the conception of evolution. This is the 
notion of recapitulation, which is a biological fact, 
and, in a broad sense, a psychological fact. Every 
stage of development is conditioned by the previous 
stage and the environing forces. This is due to the 
accumulated experience of organic forms, and doubt- 
less is as true of mind as of body. Therefore, the 
necessity of orderly procedure in education has its 
explanation and justification in evolution. (2) Ac- 
tivity in education, which lies back of manual train- 
ing and gymnastics, has its full explanation in evo- 
lution. In the past it was the response of the indi- 
vidual to the pressure of the environment that 
brought about progress, and a priori we should 
expect such response still to be a condition of prog- 



BODY AND MIND 17 

ress and development. The facts seem to show that 
this is true. Evolution gives us an interpretation of 
this fact. (3) The modern nature-study movement 
has its justification in the doctrine of evolution. The 
movement is merely a recognition of the fact that we 
can not neglect noiv the natural and physical condi- 
tions that have made possible the development of the 
race. Man has always had the closest relations to his 
natural environment, and it would be strange indeed 
if he could now afford to neglect it. (4) Moral train- 
ing has no meaning except when considered in the 
light of the evolution of ethical and social ideals. 
But there is no use to specify details, for every phase 
of education takes on a new aspect, acquires new 
meaning and significance, when considered in the 
light of evolution. 

Body and mind. — It is already obvious from our 
discussion that mind and body are very closely r^ 
lated. It will be well, however, to notice in some 
detail certain aspects and consequences of this rela- 
tionship. (1) First one should notice the mere fact 
of relationship. We know nothing about mind except 
in its relation to bodies. The exact nature of the 
connection between them we do not know — we may 
never know — but we may sometime be able to give a 
pretty good description of it. We know now that 
every variation and fluctuation of mind has its corre- 
sponding variation and fluctuation in the body. It 
does not seem just correct to say that either is the 
cause of the other, — that the mental change causes 
the physical change, or that the physical causes the 
mental ; so in the present state of our knowledge we 
say merely that the two sets of phenomena go on 



18 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

together and are inseparably connected. (2) The 
intimate relation of tlie mind is with the changes in 
the brain and nervous system. There seems to be a 
complete parallel between intelligence and brain de- 
velopment throughout the animal kingdom ; the more 
complex the brain-structure, the higher the intelli- 
gence of the animal. Not only, then, is mind related 
to body, but it is more especially and intimately con- 
nected with nervous activity. (3) It is possible to 
consider the body of an animal as a mechanism, a 
mechanical structure greatly differentiated, with 
parts especially sensitive to certain types of impres- 
sions. These sensitive structures are all connected 
with muscular structures, and impressions on the 
former bring about responses in the latter. This 
may all be considered as a mechanical process, but 
while certain parts of this process are going on, 
namely, the action in the brain cells, set up directly 
or indirectly by the imjoressions on the sense organs, 
there is consciousness. We need not concern our- 
selves in this book with the metaphysical question 
whether consciousness is a causal element in the 
physical series. This makes no difference to educa- 
tion. What the teacher ought to know is that the 
body may be considered purely as a mechanism, but 
that the development of the mind is invariably asso- 
ciated with the development of the mechanical 
processes, and that whatever the ultimate nature of 
the relationship may be, it is surely a most intimate 
one. (4) The mind, as we saw, is dependent upon 
brain structure and function; intimately associated 
with brain activity is muscle activity. We have, then, 
mind, brain, muscle, the great psychophysical trinity, 



BODY AND MIND 19 

the three-in-one, existing in the most intimate rela- 
tionship, mutually depending, directly or indirectly, 
the one upon the others, each having no meaning 
without the others. (5) It seems that in the past mus- 
cular activity has made the development of our brain 
necessary, and it is a reasonable assumption that 
muscular development still has an intimate connec- 
tion with brain development and therefore with men- 
tal development. (6) From the point of view of the 
body it is the muscles and nerves that are trained 
and educated, and the training consists in the perfec- 
tion of muscular movement as related to nervous 
stimulus. (7) Another thing to be noticed is the com- 
plete dependence of mind, at least in man, upon sense 
organs. These organs are specialised nerve-endings, 
each type capable of receiving a certain sort of phys- 
ical impression. They are the means through which 
the environment brings about brain changes, — the 
necessary accompaniment of mind. This fact makes 
(8) the hygiene of the sense organs of the greatest 
importance to the teacher. A child without any sense 
organs would not have enough mind to quarrel about. 
And a child's mental life is incomplete if any sense- 
organ is defective or abnormal. It is therefore essen- 
tial that the teacher know the sensory equipment of 
the children under his charge, and that school 
authorities have accurate tests made of the sense 
organs of the pupils and have medical attention and 
help given when necessary. It is not only useless to 
proceed, as teachers, in ignorance of these facts, but 
it is criminal, for every child has the right to demand 
of society that all possible be done for his individual 
development. (9) We must not lose sight of the fact 



20 THE 0UTLINE8 OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

that muscular activity is not only the condition of 
mental development, but the end as well. There 
seems little reason, ultimately, why we should know 
except that we may do. Ivnowledge is not itself an 
end, but only a means, only one step in the complete 
process of education. Education has suffered greatly 
in the past because of ignorance or forgetfulness of 
this fact. Whenever a teacher forgets that action, 
adjustment, is the end of training, then education 
begins to be formal and severs its relation to reality 
and life. It has too often been true that the work 
of the school room was artificial and had little rela- 
tion to the life of the time, when, in fact, it ought 
merely to be an aspect, an expression, of the life of 
the time, as the outgrowth of that of the past. (10) 
Under this view, manual training and industrial edu- 
cation take first rank in the curriculum and become 
the cornerstone of the educational structure. (11) 
The sharp distinction and separation of mind and 
body in the past has been a great error. There have 
been people who thought that the mind had little use 
for the body, and who have humiliated and degraded 
the body. We now see that this is a great mistake, 
for in order to look properly after the development 
of the mind we must look most carefully after the 
bodily conditions. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS YOU FTJETHER STUDY. 

1. In what sense is the doctrine of evolution new if many great 
thinkers from the time of Thales have held it in some form? What 
led to the general acceptance of the doctrine in the latter part of 
last century? 

2. Does the child of today, on account of evolution and heredity, 
have greater capacity to learn than was possessed by children a 
hundred years ago? than the children of twenty thousand years 
ago? 



BODY AND MIND 21 



3. Is man still undergoing evolution? Will he probably acquire 
a new sense that he does not now possess? 

4. Outline the evidence on which the doctrine of evolution Is 
based. 

5. Is there any evidence at all that stands in the way of accept- 
ing the doctrine? 

6. Why should we distinguish between evolution and theories 
of evolution? 

7. Explain the following terms : Darwinism, natural selection, 
survival of the fittest, Weismannism, Lamarckianism, spontaneous 
variation, the DeVries mutation theory. 

8. To what extent does the mind of an individual pass through 
stages of mental development analogous to the minds of lower 
animals? 

9. Is the snail a mere mechanism or does consciousness accom- 
pany its muscular activity? 

10. Is it true that we liave as much right to use the term 'cause* 
to designate the relation of mind to body as we have for using it to 
designate the relation between two physical phenomena? 

11. What is meant by 'free will'? determinism? From what 
point of view can we say that we do as ice please? From what 
point of view can we say that our acts are all determined? 

12. Is it true that strong minds are found in weak bodies? If 
you know of such a case, can you explain it? Look up the biog- 
raphies of a dozen great men to see what you can learn about their 
early life. 

13. How can you account for rather mature minds in Immature 
bodies? and how explain immature, undeveloped minds in mature 
bodies? 

14. What Important bearing on education has the fact that the 
development of the body is absolutely essential to the development 
of the mind? 

15. Why Is It that American schools have not used play and 
games to the full extent of their possibilities? 

16. Professor Swift tells us in Mind in the Making that many 
great men in this country and England were slow in their develop- 
ment, got little benefit from their attendance at school and were 
considered weak-minded by their teachers. What explanation can 
you give? 

17. Look up the biographies of eminent men and see if you find 
that as many of these men were precocious as children as were 
backward. 

18. What motives have Induced school authorities to put manual 
training into the schools? 

19. If mind and body are so closely related, can we say that all 
education is education of the mind? 

20. What is meant by 'hygiene of the mind'? Is there any 
hygiene of the mind ap^irt from the hygiene of the body? 



22 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

21. G. Stanley Hall says that school hygiene is the most im- 
portant part of pedagogy. In what sense is this true? 

22. Is your own body in good condition? Are your eyes and 
ears perfect? Would there be as good reason for requiring teach- 
ers to pass a physical examination as there is for requiring them 
to pass a mental examination? Do you know of any cities that 
require teachers to pass a physical examination? 

23. To what extent should teachers be i)rcpared to examine and 
test the pupils as to their physical health and sensory capacity? 
Should some training in medicine and nursing be part of a teacher's 
equipment? 

24. Describe simple tests for determining visual and auditory 
defects. Give Illustrations of the effects on life and character of 
such defects. 

REFERENCES. 

The evidence of the evolution of organic forms Is the whole 
science of biology, and specific references are almost out of the 
question, and since no student should undertalie the study of edu- 
cational psychology without at least a general knowledge of biology, 
such references are unnecessary. The general nature of this evi- 
dence, however, may be found in such books as : 

J. LeConte, Evolution; its nature and evidences and its rela- 
tion to Religious Thought, 1891. 

H. F. Osborne, From the Greeks to Darwin, 1902. 

General text-books in zoology. 

A good notion of the significance of the doctrine of evolution 
may be obtained from the essays in the commemorative volume, 
Fifty Years of Darwinism, 1909. 

On the evolution of mind, see the article on Evolution and Psy- 
chology, by G. Stanley Hall, in Fifty Years of Darwinism; also, 
K L. Thorndike, The Evolution of the Human Intellect, in Popular 
Science Monthly, 1901, Vol. Ix, 5S. 

E. A. Kirkpatrick, Point of View of Genetic Psychology, Journal 
of Ed. Psy., Vol. i, 76 ; Genetic Psychology, 1909, Ch. xi. 

On the relation of mind and body : II. Miinsterberg, Psychology 
and the Teacher, 1909, Chs. xiii and xiv. 

E. B. Titchener, A Texthook of Psychology, 1910, pp. 9-15. 

On the dependence of mental development on muscular develop- 
ment : Hall's Adolescence, Ch. iii. 

H. H. Donaldson, The Growth of the Brain, 1899 ; is a book that 
emphasizes the importance of the brain and nervous system in edu- 
cation. 

On mental and physical examination and medical inspection : 
G. M. Whipple, Manual of Mental and Physical Tests, 1910. Tests 
of sensory capacity, Ch. xi. Questions in School Hygiene, 1909 ; 
very helpful in the study of school hygiene ; gives extended refer- 
ences on all aspects of the subject. 

L, H. Gulick and L. P. Ayres, Medical Inspection of Schools, 



BODY AND MIND 23 



1910. A splendid treatment of the subject. The student is espe- 
cially referred to the first three chapters for a general treatment 
of the subject, and to chapter viii for examinations of vision and 
audition. 

Any good text in school hygiene gives directions for tests of 
sensory capacity. See such as those by Barry, Hope, Newsholme 
and Shaw. 

J. M. Taylor, Motor Education for tJie Child, Pop. Set. Mo., 
Ixxviii, 2G8 ; L. M. Ternian, 27te Relation of Manual Arts to Health, 
Pop. Sci. Mo., Ixxviii, 602. 

V. L. Kellogg, Darwinism Today, 1908; M. M. Metcalf, An Out- 
line of the Theory of Organic Evolution, 1904; E. B. Poulton, 
Essays on Evolution, 1908; II. de Vries, Species and Varieties: 
Their Origin l)y Mutation, 1905, 



Chapter HI. 

HEREDITY. 

What we mean by heredity. — If we apply heat to 
a duck's egg, a duckling will hatch from the egg; if tbe 
heat be a^Dplied to a hen's egg, then a chick hatches 
from the egg. We never have any doubt about the 
outcome if we know what kind of egg the heat is 
applied to. If we plant corn, and the proper amount 
of heat, air and moisture is available, the seed 
sprouts, produces stalks and eventually ears of corn. 
If the seed planted is wheat, then wheat grows from 
the seed. An acorn produces an oak and not an elm. 
Here, again, we have no doubt about the outcome if 
we know what kind of seed is planted. Such popular 
expressions as *'hke father, like son"; ''chip of 
the old block," etc., make it clear that it is the popu- 
lar belief that the same rule holds good with man- 
kind, that if we know the parents, we can predict with 
considerable confidence concerning the offspring. It 
seems to be a universal principle in the organic world 
that like produces like. The new being is not exactly 
like its progenitors ; there is always some variation, 
but the new growth is, as a rule, more like that from 
which it came than it is like the forms in other lines 
of descent. 

Heredity is a necessary corollary of evolution, for 
after natural selection has ehminated the unfit, the 

[24] 



HEREDITY 25 

characteristics of tlie fit must be transmitted to the 
next generation. One of the fundamental character- 
istics of organic matter is irritabihty. This means 
only that the mechanical and chemical effects of the 
environing forces bring about a readjustment of the 
organism. For progressive development to be pos- 
sible the organism must retain some trace of this 
readjustment that will make the same reaction likely 
when the same stimulus is repeated. This likelihood 
of the same response to the same stimulus is the 
fundamental fact of heredity. 

The mechanism of heredity. — The first problem set 
by heredity is that of its mechanism. How is the 
transmission of characteristics accomplished? In 
the lower forms of animals — the protozoa — the prob- 
lem is fairly simple. The protozoan's body is com- 
paratively simple and relatively homogeneous. The 
single cell merely divides to produce a new individ- 
ual. After the division, each of the new animals is 
composed of parts of the various simple structures 
of the parent animal, and retains whatever tenden- 
cies to response the parent had. In a certain sense 
there is no heredity among these lower forms, be- 
cause there is no real reproduction here. One animal 
merely divides into two or more animals, and each 
of the new animals possesses the characteristics of 
the parent form, for in a sense they are the parent. 
Only two principles, then, are necessary to account 
for heredity among the lower protozoa : (1) internal 
forces of the organism adjusting it to the forces of 
the environment; (2) the formation of habits, i. e., 
the fixing, by repetition, of types of response. The 
responses which an organism gives to definite stimu- 



26 THE OUTLINEG OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

lation are made definite by repetition ; the result of 
this fixing may be called organic habit. 

Among higher forms of animals the problem is 
more complex. The body is differentiated into vari- 
ous complex substances and structures, and repro- 
duction is not accomplished by the simple division of 
the parent form. However, although the problem 
here is more complex to work out in detail, it is ulti- 
mately the same as in the lower forms and involves 
only the same two principles. All higher animals 
come from a fertilized cell or egg. This single cell de- 
velops into the complex structure of the adult animal. 
Of course, the differentiation of special reproductive 
tissue and body tissue, and the production of the 
latter by the former, presents a special group of 
problems. Various hypotheses have been advanced 
to account for the facts, — such as Darwin's pangene- 
sis theory, Weismann's germ-plasm theory, the pre- 
formation theory, and what might be called the dy- 
namic theory, — the view that each step in the devel- 
oping individual is conditioned by the environment. 
For discussion and criticism of these theories the 
student must be referred to biology. 

Recapitulation and heredity. — One fact of hered- 
ity, fairly well established, is that the individual in 
its development proceeds through successive stages 
analogous to the stages passed through in the evolu- 
tion of the species. This fact has its explanation in 
the two facts of heredity mentioned above. The cell 
from which the higher animal develops possesses the 
traces or effects of the past environment of the ani- 
mal's kind and the responses to that environment; 
therefore, if the proper conditions are supplied to 



HEREDITY 27 

the developing cell it responds — in its adjustment — 
step by step in harmony with the tissue of which it 
is a part. In other words, a developing animal re- 
sponds to the environing forces according to the 
habits of response fixed by the continued responses 
of its ancestors. Such, briefly, are the facts of the 
mechanism of heredity, — simple enough in outline, 
but it may be a long time before the biologist can 
give us the facts in detail. > 

The laws of heredity. — (1) Galton's law. The sta- 
tistical studies of Sir Francis Galton and others 
seem to indicate a tendency toward mediocrity. Tall 
parents have children taller than the average, but not 
so tall as the parents ; similarly, the children of short 
parents are shorter than the average, but not so 
short as their own parents. The children of un- 
usually intelligent parents are above the average, 
but not so intelligent as their parents. This means 
that the offspring tend to approach a type. Statis- 
tics seem to indicate that this is true. The fact is 
usually known as Galton's law, and is stated as fob 
lows : The immediate parents contribute one-half of 
the hereditary tendency of the offspring, the grand- 
parents one-fourth, the great-grandparents one- 
eighth, and so on back. Now, while statistics indicate a 
tendency toward an average or type, it is quite likely 
that the facts are much more adequately accoimted 
for in other ways. (2) Mendel's law, perhaps, ex- 
presses a more fundamental fact. Eecent studies of 
heredity indicate that physical characteristics are 
transmitted as unit cJiaracters, and that this trans- 
mission is pure. For example, if yellow and white 
corn are mixed or crossed, the first crop will be all 



28 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

yellow, but if all the seed of the second crop is 
planted and allowed to cross, one-fourth of the next 
crop will be white, and if planted separately will 
breed true, with no yellow product, showing the pure 
transmission of the unit character, white, although 
the white corn had been crossed with yellow. This 
principle of transmission has already been found to 
cover a large number of cases, and may ultimately 
be proved to be a general law of physical heredity 
of wide application. 

Mental heredity . — Are mental characteristics 
transmitted in the same way as physical? From 
what we know of the intimate relation of mind and 
body, mental heredity becomes a natural and legit- 
imate inference from the facts of physical heredity, 
since the nervous structures that underlie mental 
traits and tendencies doubtless are inherited. The 
few studies that have been made on mental heredity 
corroborate this inference. However, the detailed 
facts of mental heredity have yet to be made out. It 
may be a reasonable conjecture at this stage of our 
knowledge that mental traits are transmitted by 
heredity in just as true a sense as are physical traits, 
and we may even guess that there are unit characters 
of mind corresponding to unit physical characters, 
but this is a mere guess, and there is practically no 
evidence at this time to support it. 

Special facts of heredity. — ( 1 ) Atavism. Occasion- 
ally children are born possessing some peculiarity 
not now common, but supposed to have been a com- 
mon attribute of remote ancestors. This reappear- 
ance of old characters is known as atavism. Exam- 
ples are extra digits, hairy or horny skin, etc. When 



HEREDITY 



29 



these characteristics appear, they usually persist in 
the offspring for several generations. There is a 
record of six generations of horny-handed people in 
France. (2) Disease not inherited. It seems to be 
established that diseases are not inherited. They 
may be transmitted by infection from mother to off- 
spring before birth, but not inherited in the true 
sense. (3) Acquired characteristics not inherited. 
In the present state of our knowledge it looks as if 
the past ages of our experience have given the germ- 
cell such inertia or momentum that little, if any, 
effect is produced on the germ-development by the 
life of the immediate parents before the germ begins 
its development. It is perhaps impossible for any 
effect to be produced, for early in the development of 
the individual the reproductive tissue is differenti- 
ated from the body — or somatic — tissue. The body 
tissue supplies it with nourishment, but is helpless to 
produce other effects than those that proceed from 
good or poor nourishment. The effects of our educa- 
tion and training are not transmitted to our children, 
but the neuromuscular structures that make our own 
training possible are transmitted to them. Any spon- 
taneous variation of the germ-cell making possible 
unusual education and training is doubtless trans- 
mitted by heredity, and this is an important fact for 
education, for it amounts to the same thing as the 
transmission of our acquirements. Although the 
child can not inherit the learning of his father, he 
may, perhaps, inherit the capacity for such learning. 
The only bad thing is that the young must go through 
the learning process, and this may not be without its 
blessing. 



30 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

Social heredity. — Although acquired characters 
are not transmitted, the fact that children live for many 
years with their parents and gradually take on the be- 
liefs, manners, customs, traditions, and even the poli- 
tics and religion of their parents, largely takes the 
place of such transmission. This means of coming into 
possession of the social products of civilization is 
known as social heredity. It is not heredity in the 
same sense as the other form of transmission that 
we have discussed, which may be called natural 
heredity, but since the result is to make children like 
their parents and elders in social habits, social hered- 
ity is a very appropriate term. We learn to speak, 
write, and in general act as our parents do, much as 
if instincts for these performances were inherited. 
The attainments of parents and adults generally are 
handed down to the children of the generation 
through social heredity. This influence is almost as 
certain and definite as natural heredity. We are born 
into a system of social relationships, and through 
imitation we learn to play our part in these relation- 
ships. However, the only field left open for social 
heredity is that not covered by inherited instincts, 
except that there is a certain possibility of modifying 
these instincts through social pressure. It may be 
said that the strength and definiteness of social 
heredity is inversely proportional to that of natural 
heredity. The old, individualistic instincts are least 
affected by social pressure. The importance of so- 
cial heredity is due to two facts : (1) the long period 
of infancy and (2) the strength of imitation during 
early life. During the long period of infancy the 
child is plastic and takes on the form of activity that 



HEREDITY 31 

he sees about him. He continues to imitate what he 
sees till the response becomes a fixed habit and a part 
of his nature, approximating instincts in definiteness 
and regularity. By the time that we reach maturity, 
social pressure, acting upon our inherited instincts, 
has moulded us into the sort of responding organism 
that we are to be through life, the acquired habits 
being largely matters of reflex response and under 
the control of the centers of the spinal cord. So the 
importance of social heredity, within the limits of its 
possibilities, is about as great as that of natural 
heredity. 

Educational inferences. — (1) The tremendous 
force of heredity. We are more alike than we are 
different. The older racial traits are the strongest, 
and the fundamental characteristics of our race are 
measurably the same for all of us. These common 
factors of heredity may be presui)posed by education. 
(2) The great importance of small differences. It is 
the fact that we are, on the whole, alike that gives to 
small variations their great importance. Small dif- 
ferences may ultimately mean a fool, on the one hand, 
or a genius, on the other. A favorable envi ronment may 
mean the saving of the fool, helping him to become 
S3lf -supporting and keeping him out of the poor- 
house or prison; while an unfavorable environment 
may make of him a criminal or pauper. It is also in 
the interest of society to favor, in every possible way, 
the development of any unusual capacity in an indi- 
vidual. (3) Eugenics. This term may be defined as 
the science of improving the human race by breeding. 
It undertakes to discover the laws of heredity and 
consciously to apply them to the improvement of the 



32 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

human stock. It may hope at least to conserve the 
small favorable variations and to some extent elimi- 
nate the unfit. (4) The development of social ideas 
now renders largely impossible the elimination, by 
natural selection, of the socially unfit. Therefore, 
the only way to eliminate them is to make their origin 
impossible. The importance of the study of heredity, 
with the idea of discovering its laws and applying 
them to the improvement of the human race, is very 
great. Teachers should, therefore, lend their influ- 
ence to social measures looking toward the study of 
heredity by the pure and applied sciences. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY. 

1. Distinguish between facts and theories of heredity. 

2. Write a brief statement summarizing the main facts of hered- 
ity. 

3. What aspects of heredity do we try to account for by theo- 
ries? What theory seems to account best for the facts? 

4. Make a study of your own physical and mental Inheritance. 
Consider height, hair and eye color and such mental traits as you 
can get data on. Do you find any evidence of Galtou's law, of 
Mendel's law? 

5. Do you And In your study any evidence of the transmission 
of eye defects ; of any other physical defects or deformities? 

6. Collect statistics showing the Inheritance of mental traits. 
Can you eliminate the effects of training and imitation on the 
traits studied? 

7. Can you trace the inheritance of specific traits to your 
mother, to your father, to a more remote ancestor? 

8. Is there any specific branch of study in which you inherit 
either superior or inferior ability? Can you eliminate the effects 
of training and imitation? 

9. Collect statistics showing that genius Is the result of nature, 
and not nurture. Can you cite evidence that seems to show the 
contrary? 

10. Is It probable that many unusual minds are lost to society 
on account of an unfavorable environment? 

11. Discuss the following statement of Thorndlke's: "The one 
thing that educational theorists of today seem to place as the fore- 
most duty of the schools — development of powers and capacities — 
Is the one thing that the schools or any other educational forces 
can do \east"— Ed. Psy., 1903, p. 45. 



HEBEDITY 33 



12. Make a list of mental characteristics that are little affected 
by the schools. 

13. From the point of view of heredity, how ma^ sve state the 
function of the schools? 

14. Is it possible to determine the relative influence of heredity 
and environment in the case of the Juices family? 

15. Collect evidence showing the outcome of raising children of 
poor parentage in good environments ; be sure of your facts con- 
cerning the child's parentage. 

16. Cite facts showing that we are not all equal by birth. 

17. Should the schools undertake to discover the natural capaci- 
ties of individuals and educate accordingly? If a person has am- 
bition for a career in a certain field, but has little capacity in 
that field, should he be encouraged to carry out his ambitions in 
that direction? Should everyone be given a higher education? 
Does society have any right to set any limitation to the pursuits 
of an individual? 

18. Do you know of any cases of atavism or reversion? 

19. Make a list of the characteristics that you have as a result 
of social heredity. 

20. Mention several things in the line of race improvement that 
the State is warranted in doing now. Cite examples of the propa- 
gation of the grossly unfit. 

REFERENCES. 

For Brief General Treatment : 

E. L. Thorndike, Educational Psychology, 1910, Chs. v and vli; 

E. A. Kirkpatrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, 1909, Ch. xv. 
On the Biological Aspects ot Heredity : 

J. Loeb, The Dynamics of Living Matter, 1906; E. B. Wilson, 
The Cell: Its Development and Heredity, 1896; H. B. Orr, 
A Theory of Development and Heredity, 1895 ; A. Weismann, 
The Germ Plasm, 1893, especially part 1 ; G. J. Romanes, An 
Examination of Weismannism, 1899, especially chapter ill ; H. 
de Vries, Species and Varieties: Their Origin and Mutation, 
1906. The Mutation Theory, 1910 ; G. A. Reid, The Principles 
of Heredity, 1905, from the point of view of a physician ; J. A. 
Thompson, Heredity, 1908 ; D. C. Punnett, Mendelism, 1911. 
On Mental Heredity : 

F. Galton, Hereditary Genius, 1892: Natural Inheritance, 1894; 
Noteworthy Families, 19<t6: E. L. Thorndike, Educational Psy- 
chology, 1910, pp. 77-103; The Measurement of Twins, 1905; 
K. Pearson, Nature, Vol. Ixv, p. 118. 

On Social Heredity : 

J. M. Baldwin, Mental Development, Vol. ii, p. 57; E. A. Kirk- 
patrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, p. 297. 

On Nature versus Nurture: 

E. M. Elderton. On the Measurement of Resemblance of First 
Cousins, 1907; The Relative Strength of Nurture and Nature, 



34 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

1909; F. A. Woods, Mental and Moral Jleredity in Royalty, 
1906 ; also in Popular Science Monthly, Vol. Ixi, 3G9, 449, 50G ; 
Vol. Ixii, 7G, 167; H. Ellis, A Study of British Genius, Pop. 
Sci. Mo., Vol. Iviii, 595 ; Vol. Ivix, 59, 209, 266, 373, 441 ; R. L. 
Dugdale, The Jukes, 1902; A. E. Winshop, Jukcs-Edicards, A 
Study in Education and Ueredity, 1900; W. S. Church and 
others. The Influence of Heredity on Disease, 1909; E. L. 
Thorndike, Heredity, Correlation and Sex Difference in School 
Children, 1903, p. 41, in Columbia Conts. to Phil., Psy. and 
Ed., Vol. xi, No. 2; tiotes on Child Study, 1903, p. 140, Educa- 
tional Psychology, 1910, pp. 138-141. 
On Eugenics : 

K. Pearson, The Groundwork of Eugenics, 1909; The Scope 
and Importance to the State of the Science of National Eu- 
genics, 1909 ; The Prohlems of Practical Eugenics, 1909 ; also 
in Pop. Sci. Mo., Vol. Ixxi, 385 ; F. Galton, Pop. Sci. Mo., Vol. 
Ixxi, 1()5 ; C. B. Daveinport, Eugenics, 1910 ; Eugenics and 
Euthcnics. Pop. Sci. Mo., Ixxviii. 116; W. E. Kellieott, The 
Social Direction of Human Evolution, 1911 ; C. Davenport, 
Heredity in Relation to Eugenics, 1911. 



Chapter IV. 
INSTINCTS. 

Definition and description. — Instincts are definite, 
complex forms of inherited response to definite stim- 
uli.* The stimuli may be definite situations in the 
environment or definite changes in the body of the 
animal. Through heredity, these responses have 
become fixed in the organism. The basis of instinct 
is inherited structure. The co-ordination of a par- 
ticular form of response with a particular kind of 
stimulus is already provided for in the neuromuscu- 
lar structure of the animal possessing the instinctive 
tendency, so that when the ajDpropriate stimulus ap- 
pears the appropriate response, rather than some 
other, takes place. An illustration will make the mat- 
ter clear. The building of a nest the first time by a 
bird, say an oriole, is instinctive. Certain changes 
in the oriole's body, that may have some relation to 
seasonal changes, is the stimulus. The oriole sets to 
work and builds a nest of definite type, without ever 
having learned how, and without ever having seen 
one built before. When the nest is made, the eggs 
are laid in the nest rather than somewhere else. The 
mother bird sits upon the eggs and hatches them, 
feeds the young and protects them, — in a word, the 
whole process of brooding is performed without the 

♦Although Instinct is here defined as a form of action, the term 
is occasionally used iu the text to designate the impulse or tendency. 

[35] 



36 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

mother bird being taught how. Instinctive actions, 
then, are those that an animal can perform without 
having to learn how. As a rule, they are performed 
well the first time, provided that the inherited struc- 
ture underlying them is sufficiently developed. If a 
young bird is thrown out of its nest before its muscles 
and feathers are sufficiently developed, its flying is 
poor and awkward, but if the bird is sufficiently de- 
veloped it flies well on the first day of its flight. 

We have said that instincts are definite forms of re- 
sponse, but there is variability from zero fixity on the 
one hand, to almost absolute fixity, on the other. The 
oldest instincts are, as a rule, the most fixed and defi- 
nite and least variable, while those forms of instinct- 
ive action latest acquired in the history of the race 
or species are, as a rule, the least definite and most 
variable. Instincts that lead to self-preservation 
and self-protection and to the preservation of the 
species are, on the whole, the most fixed and invari- 
able. Natural selection, acting through unnumbered 
ages, has perfected instinctive responses. For every 
form of animal life the individual gets along best, on 
the average, by a certain type of response to the vari- 
ous situations that the species has to meet. Natural 
selection perpetuates those individuals that give this 
response and eliminates those that do not. A study 
of the animals as they exist in the world today shows 
a most delicate inherited adjustment to those condi- 
tions of the environment that are the most general 
and constant. To the less general and constant fac- 
tors the inherited forms of response, if a^iy, are less 
constant and more variable. In a strict sense, there 
is perhaps never absolute invariability of inherited 



INSTINCTS 



37 



response, but there is an approach to it, and the near- 
ness of this approach marks the strength of the in- 
stinctive tendency. 

Instincts differ from reflex action in the matter of 
complexity only, for they are alike in both being in- 
herited forms of action or response. The term in- 
stinct is reserved for the more complex adjustments 
involving usually a series of reflexes, — the latter 
being simple responses usually of single muscles or 
a single group of muscles. Winking the eyelid, for 
example, is a reflex; the building of a nest is a series 
of reflexes or an instinct. But, as responses, their 
only difference is that of complexity. While instincts 
differ from reflexes in the matter of complexity, both 
differ from habits in the matter of origin. Habits, 
too, are more or less definite responses to definite 
situations, but the definiteness of the habit is ac- 
quired and is due to repetition in the lifetime of the 
individual. 

Experimental studies of instinct. — Our knowledge 
of instinct has been greatly enlarged in recent years 
by systematic observations and experiments carried 
Jon by the zoologist, as well as the psychologist. 
Among the first experimenters was Spalding. Some 
of his experiments with chickens show very clearly 
the nature of instinct. He found that young chicks 
could peck accurately without having to learn how. 
Before they were four days old, chicks would follow 
any moving object, but if kept hooded till about the 
fourth day they would then flee from any moving 
object. He found that chicks could find their way to 
the mother hen by the sound of her cluck alone, 
although their ears had been kept previously cov- 



38 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

ered witli wax. The chicks would hide from hawks 
the first time that they heard a hawk. Chicks chirp- 
ing in the shell would stop chirping on hearing the 
warning note of the mother hen. Although chickens 
may be kept with turkeys, they continue to catch flies 
in their own inherited way rather than in the better 
way used by the turkeys. A young chick will run 
away with a morsel of food, although no other chick 
be near to interfere. Numerous experimental studies 
show that not only in the chick, but in all animals, 
most of the responses that are necessary to survival 
are provided for in the inherited organism. When 
the time is ripe the action is performed without the 
necessity of learning it. Only a little observation is 
needed to show that mammals, the highest of animal 
forms, perform most of the important functions of 
life without learning. A lamb will walk within one 
minute after birth; a colt within twenty minutes. 
The sucking reflex is usually ready to function at 
birth. And so on through the list of what the animal 
must do, — locomotion, taking food, the various re- 
sponsive relations to parents, to enemies, and to the 
different natural surroundings, — earth and air and 
water, light and darkness, weather conditions, etc., — 
for each a form of response is ready. If it is not 
ready at birth, it is ready when the need arrives. 

Instinct in man. — Man has as many instincts as the 
other animals, perhaps more. There are instincts of 
fear, fighting, sucking, walking, imitation, play, in- 
stincts concerned with reproduction, others con- 
cerned with social life, and so on through a long list. 
Man is a creature of instinct and habit. It is true, 
he is also a creature of reason, but how much there is 



INSTINCTS 39 

of instinct and how little of reason ! What is not in- 
stinct is, in large measure, habit. The great and 
powerful sources of our daily action lie deep in our 
nature, — love and hate and fear, jealousy and 
rivalry, competition and strife, and the instinctive 
responses characteristic of them, are as old as the 
hills, while our little spark of reason is but a thing 
of yesterday and today. Our bodies have come down 
from the past ; they have been moulded in the woods, 
and their equipment is that which led to the survival 
of our ancestors in their form of life. It is, therefore, 
no wonder that we find the strongest forces of our 
nature to be the heritage which these ancestors have 
left us, and, of course, suited to primitive forms of 
living. 

Transitoriness and periodicity of instincts. — Some 
instinctive tendencies seem to be transitory, as the 
instinct of following moving objects in the chick as 
mentioned above. It seems that the developing struc- 
ture of the animal provides a certain kind of response 
for a certain stimulus and situation, but if the appro- 
priate stimulus and external conditions are wanting 
when the structure is ready for them, the tendency to 
definite form of action in this situation passes away. 
If the mother hen and chick are together for the first 
ten days of the chick's life, the chick responds to the 
mother's call, but if they are not together, then the 
chick ''hears the call as if it heard it not"; it pays 
no attention to its mother. Instinctive fear is not 
present in many mammals at birth, and when fear 
does appear it is not manifested toward that sur- 
rounding to which the animal has become accustomed 
in the meanwhile, but is manifested toward strange 



40 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

things. If a cow hide her calf away for the first two 
or three weeks, it is then very difficult to tame the 
calf. Many such acts, as the burying of bones by 
dogs, of nuts by squirrels, are doubtless never per- 
formed unless the conditions are favorable for the 
performance when the instinctive tendency first 
ripens, although we need more extended studies on 
this subject before we can know the exact facts. 
Many instincts show a certain periodicity of occur- 
rence, such as instincts concerned with reproduction 
that recur periodically, and instincts that concern the 
animal's relation to its seasonal environment, that 
bring about migration, hibernation, etc. Concern- 
ing the transiency of instincts in the developing child, 
we have not yet sufficient exact knowledge to speak 
with entire confidence, but as far as our knowledge 
goes it looks as if transiency were a very prominent 
characteristic of the instincts of children. Their 
varying interests seem to be manifestations of their 
changing and developing instincts. 

The order of development of instincts. — One of the 
most important factors that must be worked out for 
the science of education is the natural order and 
sequence of the developing instincts of children. The 
task will require the long and patient work of many 
psychologists, but enough has already been done to 
show that the problem is solvable ; in fact, to a con- 
siderable extent, is solved. We shall know presently 
the natural orderly development of children ; we shall 
know the normal ages of the child for the first ap- 
pearance of the different instincts, the conditions of 
their future growth or atrophy, their relations to 
environmental conditions and their mutual inter- 



INSTINCTS 



41 



dependence. We know tliese facts already in broad 
outline. The order of development has been fixed by 
natural selection and is that best adapted to the con- 
ditions of life in the later existence of our race. To 
some extent, the order in the individual may be the 
same as the order in racial development, but this 
need not at all be the case, for the appearance of 
instincts doubtless shifts up and down the age scale 
according to the changing conditions and demands of 
the life of the species. There can be little doubt, how- 
ever, that the present strength of an instinctive tend- 
ency depends upon its age and function in the history 
of the species. On the whole, the motives which lead 
to self-preservation and self-protection are much 
stronger than sympathetic and altruistic motives. 
The dependence of instincts upon external condi- 
tions is great and their interrelations are important. 
The development of many instincts is largely de- 
pendent upon that of others, and unless the proper 
environmental conditions appear the instinct, in 
many cases, will not become perpetuated in the indi- 
vidual's life. Although we have few studies on the 
matter, it seems that there is a most favorable time 
for fixing and perpetuating an instinct in an indi- 
vidual. The child passes through various stages of 
natural interests, when his whole energy seeks an 
outlet in one direction, and there can be no question 
of the necessity of taking advantage of these succes- 
sive waves of natural interests which underlie inher- 
ited action, i. e., instincts. We must ''strike while 
the iron is hot." Teachers worry a great deal about 
how to interest children in this or that. This worry 



42 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

is wholly unnecessary and fruitless. A teacher can 
no more give a child an interest that he does not have 
than he can add to his own stature "by taking 
thought." And the earlier that teachers learn this, 
the better for their teaching. What the teacher 
should have is (1) a knowledge of what kind of thing 
the child should finally be and (2) a knowledge of the 
proper manipulation of the child's environment to 
lead to the fixing and perpetuating of the desirable 
instincts and the inhibition and final atrophy of the 
undesirable ones. It may very well be, however, that 
many, perhaps most, of the undesirable instincts 
should be allowed some activity because of their rela- 
tion to the development of other instincts that are 
desirable. The facts and details of these matters 
must be known to the teacher. The chapters which 
immediately follow undertake to state these facts as 
far as we at present know them. It needs only to be 
said here that the instincts seem to have, each, its 
most favorable periods for development. 

Early specialisation of instincts. — It was noted 
above that the chick at first will follow any moving 
object about it. This is usually a hen, but may be a 
dog or a man, but whatever it first follows, this it 
continues to follow until it learns to look out for it- 
self. This early specialisation of the stimulus seems 
to be a feature of many instincts. At first, any one 
of a number of things or situations may call forth 
the response. What the first stimulus is may be 
largely a matter of chance, but afterwards the chance 
initial connection becomes permanent to the exclu- 
sion of other originally possible connections. It may 



INSTINCTS 43 

be a matter of a particular kind of food, a particular 
home, a particular route, etc. In birds we have exam- 
ples of periodicity in their mating, selecting one bird 
rather than another and sticking to this partner 
through the season. It appears that at first the nature 
of the stimulus for a particular kind of response is 
generic. Any one of the genus may call forth the re- 
sponse, but very soon the response becomes associated 
to a particular one of those possible. Although the 
happy maiden says that a certain man is the only one 
in the world that she could possibly live with, she is 
pretty far from the truth, for almost any one of the 
other billions would do just as well. It is largely a 
matter of chance which one is first thrown in her way, 
which one first calls forth the response of love. The 
girl thinks that the forces of the universe have been at 
work through all eternity fashioning for her the one 
man. So they have, in a sense, but if she had lived 
in the next ward or the next county, the man would 
have been a different one. But after chance has once 
brought them together, the love of other men is in 
large measure inhibited. This general fact of the 
specialisation of stimulus is important for education, 
because of the large range of possibilities in what 
one may love or hate or fear or seek or imitate, or 
collect or fight or kill. Herein lie the possibilities of 
the parent and teacher, for they can determine and 
arrange the environment, throw this or that into the 
child's way, take this or that out of the child's way. 
While the child instinctively responds to what is 
there, the response may be associated with desirable 
features of the environment rather than with unde- 



44 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

sirable ones. Altliougli no man can toucli a child, 
although the child is impregnable, unassailable, still 
we can, within the limits set by heredity, tre- 
mendously affect the child's development by our ma- 
nipulation of its surroundings. The child grows 
according to the laws of its own nature, but we can in 
some measure control its surroundings, which call 
forth its actions, and thus indirectly affect its growth 
and development. More than this we can not do, but 
a knowledge of what the child is by nature and of the 
order and laws of its growth puts immense possibili- 
ties into our hands. These possibilities slip away 
the moment we forget what children are by nature. 

Classification of instincts. — Various classifications 
of instincts have been used, all more or less artificial 
and arbitrary. Perhaps the best basis for classifica- 
tion is the necessities that have occasioned and per- 
petuated the instinctive tendencies. On this basis we 
have (1) the individualistic instincts, those arising 
out of the demands of individual life, such as the 
responses connected with fear, combat, rivalry, com- 
petition, obtaining food, escaping enemies, etc. (2) 
Socialistic instincts, those arising out of the demands 
of social life, those that bring about the survival of 
the group as well as that of the individual, such as 
the instincts associated to sympathy, co-operation, 
etc. (3) Sexual or parental instincts, those arising 
out of the necessities of sexual life, such as those con- 
nected with courtship, mating, home-building and 
the rearing of young. (4) Those instincts necessi- 
tated by the fact of growth and development in the 
life of an individual and made possible by the period 



INSTINCTS 45 

of infancy. They may therefore be called adaptive 
or developmental instincts, such as play and imita- 
tion, the former being necessary for normal growth 
and the latter enabling the individual to learn his 
environment and become adapted to it. (5) There 
are what we might call the environmental instincts, 
those that have been necessitated by the changes of 
seasons, climate and food supply, such as collecting, 
migration and hibernation. These might be very 
well included under the individualistic instincts, but 
the latter are primarily those that function without 
regard to time or place, while the instincts of this 
class are entirely necessitated by periodic changes 
of the environment. However, we attach little im- 
portance to an}'- classification of instincts, for the 
needs of the species are at bottom the basis of all 
of them. Some writers have made still another class, 
namely, the moral instincts, but it is very doubtful 
whether there is any such thing. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY. 

1. Compare the various definitions of instinct given by psy- 
chologists and zoologists with the one given In the text. What 
two types of definitions do you find? 

2. Enumerate the instinctive actions of a dog, of a child. Which 
is the longer list? 

3. Discuss Loeh's theory of the nature of Instinctive action. 
Do you think it can account for the most complex instincts? 

4. Is the walking of a child instinctive? Answer from your 
own observations, and also consult Major, First Steps in Mental 
Oroicth, p. 348, and Kirkpatrick's Fundamental of Child-Study, 
pp. 79-81. 

5. State the aim of education from the point of view of the 
instincts. 

6. Do the instincts of a race of people differ from age to age? 
Do the different races at the present time have different Instincts? 

7. Do instincts play as Important a part in the life of the hu- 
man Individual as they do in the life of the lower animal? 



46 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

8. Can you give any evidence of an animal losing the ability 
to perform such a basic instinct as flying-.or walliing? 

9. Can you give any evidence to show that moral or religious 
acts are instinctive? 

10. If the instincts of all children are about the same, what 
constitutes their Individual differences in ability and capacity? 

11. Is the first response, In the case of any particular instinct, 
complete and definite, or does it show development in this regard? 
Compare various instincts of different animals on this point. 

12. Is there any instinctive element in speech? 

13. Is it possible by controlling the environment to prevent the 
appearance of an undesirable instinct? 

14. Give evidence to show that instincts at present undesirable 
are important in the development of the individual. 

15. Can you give any evidence to show that an instinctive ten- 
dency in a human individual can disappear from disuse? 

10. Are the lower animals guided entirely by instinct; i. c, are 
all their acts instinctive? 

17. Are instincts still being developed in the human race? 

18. Is instinctive action always blind, or is there sometimes 
foresight of the end? Can you cite any evidence of an Instinct 
being modified by experience? 

19. Can you tell anything about the instincts of extinct animals 
by an examination of their fossil remains? 

20. Is a person's action dependent more upon instinct than upon 
reasoning and thinking? 

21. INIake a list of all the human actions, that you notice in a 
day, that you consider instinctive. 

22. Make a list of your actions for a day, classifying them under 
the headings instinctive, hahitual, result of choice or reason. Which 
is the longer list? 

23. In what sense are our instincts the basis of air our acquire- 
ments? 

24. What Is the relation of the Instincts to feeling? What Is 
the James-Lange theory of the emotions? 

25. Should our educational systems be so reconstructed as to 
have a basis of Instinctive interests? 

20. Give evidence to show that instincts and Instinctive inter- 
ests in the human child are transitory, and show the Importance of 
this fact to education. 

27. Give examples to show that In great crises and extreme 
situations of life, the cultiu'e and polish of our young civilization is 
likely to give place to old and finidamental instinctive actions. 

28. Our instincts fitted us for our primitive life In the woods. 
Do they fit us as well for our life in the modern city? Is there any 
reason for -saying that the child is, by nature, bad? If so, in what 
sense do we use the term hadf 



INSTINCTS 47 



EErERENCES. 

W. James, Prmciplcs of Psycliolopy, 189G, Vol. ii, Ch. xxiv; E. 
A. Kirkpatrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, 1909, Chs. iii and 
iv ; H. R. Marshall, Instinct and Reason, 1898 ; C. L. Morgan, 
Ai^inial Life and Intelligence, 1895, Ch. xi ; Hahit and Instinct, 
189G ; G. J. Romanes, Animal Intelligence, 1892 ; Eric Wasmann, 
Instinct and Intelligence in the Animal Kingdom, 1903; J. Loeb, 
Psychology of the Brain, 1903. Ch. xiii, a good discussion of the 
physical nature of the basis of instinct ; E. L. Thorndike, Animal 
Intelligence, 1898 ; A report of the early experimental work of D. 
A. Spalding, in Popular Science Monthly, Vol. Ixi, p. 120; an inter- 
esting series of articles by F. H. Ilerrick on Instinct and Intelli- 
gence in Birds, in Pop. Sci. Mo., Vol. Ixxvi, p. .532 ; Vol. Ixvii, pp. 
82 and 122; .Jordan and Kellogg, Animal Life, Ch. xiv, a very good 
brief statement from the zoological point of view ; C. II. Judd, 
Psychology, 1907, Ch. viii. 



Chapter V. 
THE INDIVIDUALISTIC INSTINCTS. 

Number and nature. — The individualistic instincts 
are many, including the inherited responses associ- 
ated with ambition, rivalry, pugnacity, pride, fear, 
feeding, escaping danger, and all other inherited 
responses related to individual survival. An exami- 
nation of their nature shows their evident fitness for 
primitive conditions of life. The tendencies for these 
responses appear in children with tremendous 
strength, as every parent knows. We try to cover 
these instincts up in the polite society of modern 
times, but every child shows unmistakably by its self- 
ishness, pride, jealousy, combativeness, unreasonable 
fear, greediness, and so on through a long list, fa- 
miliar to every despairing parent, the long experience 
of the race in the school of nature. Consider, for 
example, a child's table manners: long and persist- 
ent efforts are necessary to suppress the savage in- 
stincts and to establish fairly decent habits. With- 
out this careful training, children act at the table 
much as do pigs at their trough. Even as it is, in the 
best of homes, the selfish nature of the child is at 
any time likely to burst forth. The child wishes to 
eat his pie first, wishes to know if he may have more 
when * ' this is gone, ' ' and whether there is any more. 
The child complains because a brother or sister has 
the biggest i3iece of cake, or more of this or that, than 

[48] 



THE INDIVIDUALISTIC INSTINCTS 49 

he has. In the matter of play, these instincts show 
themselves strongly. Children can not play long 
together in peace, or allow other children to play 
with their toys. They claim to be bigger, stronger, 
older, richer, etc., than their playmates. Years of 
training enable an adult to cover up these old 
tendencies, to some extent, under ordinary circum- 
stances, and the later socialistic instincts show con- 
siderable strength; but let an unusual situation ap- 
pear, and much too often doiim goes the civilised man 
and up comes the savage, as it was with the man on 
Cayuga lake, some summers ago, when the burning 
boat was about to sink. Seizing one of the few avail- 
able life-preservers and jumping overboard to swim 
ashore, he cried : ' ' Fifty dollars to any one who will 
save my wife ! ' ' Setting forth the strength of these 
old instincts does not mean that we are not to try to 
subdue our savage nature, but that a consideration 
of their tenacity may show that long and persistent 
training is necessary to form habits that function 
on a higher level than these instincts. Instinctive 
responses that lead to self-preservation must be 
strong in all species that survive. Only in rare cases 
does any motive prove stronger in crucial situations 
than that of self-preservation. But these cases do 
occur, although rare, in the love of parent for child, 
in devotion to duty and to truth. For these, many 
men have sacrificed their lives. Mankind has always 
regarded these acts as the noblest of deeds. 

The child tries to turn everything to his own good 
and interprets everything in terms of self. Of course, 
there are exceptions, especially in the child's relation 
to his parents, but the child learns to identify his own 



50 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

interests with those of his parents, and learns that 
he does not suffer from competition in that quarter. 
In most situations the individualistic instincts are 
strong in the child, and are the only instincts on 
which we can in general depend. It could not be 
otherwise, for these instincts bring about the child's 
development. Of what use would social instincts be 
before the child has any capacity to help others? 
The individualistic instincts, together with the adapt- 
ive, which are essentially individualistic, are there- 
fore our starting point in education. On them as a 
basis stand the higher instincts and in them lies the 
possibility of training. They doubtless stand back 
of most of the achievements of man. If competition, 
rivalry, curiosity and self-interest were taken out of 
the world, there might be little left in the way of 
achievement, and it would probably be a pretty color- 
less, insipid sort of world. We shall now examine in 
some detail a few of these important instincts. 

Fear. — The instinctive responses to fear are old 
and fundamental, and although we now have little 
reason for fear, still, especially in the child, there 
exists an unreasonable fear that will not down, — tliet 
survival of untold ages of conflict with tooth and 
claw and the strange, mysterious forces of nature. 
The instinct appears in the infant very early. The 
babe jumps at sudden sounds and at loud sounds. 
There is early a fear of falling, that soon passes away. 
There are also periods in early childhood when the 
child seems to be fearless, at least toward many as- 
pects of nature, and later comes a time when it is 
fearful of nearly everything, i. e., fear shows the 
phenomena of transiency and periodicity mentioned 



THE INDIVIDUALISTIC INSTINCTS 51 

in chapter IV. It has been a source of much interest 
and amusement to notice these periods in my ov/n 
children, V and W. While AV was three and four 
years old and V was five and six, the older boy was 
much afraid of worms, snakes, bugs, etc., and W 
showed no fear toward them. V would therefore get 
"W to catch these animals and manipulate them for 
study. Some years earlier V showed as little fear 
as did W at this time. I am not at all sure about the 
regularity and universality of this phenomenon, but 
of the general fact of periodicity in the development 
of fear there seems no doubt. A young child will 
show absolutely no fear toward, say, a toad, but a 
year later, without in the meantime having any un- 
favorable experience with toads, perhaps without 
even seeing one, wiTl show fear toward them.* Ex- 
perience seems to have much to do with determining 
what shall call forth the fear response. An early 
unhappy experience with a dog, for example, will 
make it difficult or impossible for the person later to 
overcome a great fear of dogs. 

It is a question whether there is any specific object 
of fear as a matter of heredity. It would seem as if 
reptiles, fire, water, darlmess and some other things 
excite instinctive responses, but we can not be sure. 
Since there is little reason for fear in modern life, 
the instinct is weak in many adults, but there are 
very few people who do not have some weak spot, 
some unreasonable, and often inexplicable, fear. 
However, if we have all the facts in a person's life, 
we can usually explain these cases, for often it is a 
matter of the specialisation of stimulus. Some early, 

♦See James' Principles of Psychology, Vol. II, p. 417. 



52 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

intense experience causes the same stimulus to func- 
tion all through life in evoking the fear response. 
An early unhappy experience with a fire that got be- 
yond control bids fair to have a lasting, unreasonable 
influence on one of my own children, and I know of 
several similar instances of permanent fear of fire. 

The manifestations of fear are many. There are 
changes of respiration, of the rate of heart-beat and 
circulation and various outward responses, such as 
running away, crying out, and even remaining still, 
as if paralyzed. 

The pedagogy of fear. — (1) On the part of parents. 
My own experience and the experience of hundreds 
of my students whom I have questioned convince me 
that fear is an important factor in the life of chil- 
dren. Ignorance or carelessness on the part of 
parents may cause the fixing and perpetuating of 
some instinctive fear that often causes much agony 
throughout childhood and in some cases throughout 
life. To illustrate, when I was a very young boy a 
horrible story of a sleeping woman being awakened 
at night by a madman who had been asleep under the 
bed was read to me. The story was illustrated, and 
for years the image of that picture, showing the ter- 
rorised woman and the madman, functioned at night 
to call forth a blind, instinctive fear. That early 
experience, — the result of the thoughtlessness of an 
older brother, — caused me more agony than I like to 
think of. In nearly'' every one that I have questioned 
there is recalled some early experience that had tre- 
mendous after-effects. In view of these facts, it 
seems certain that parents should exercise great 
care concerning the early experiences of their chil- 



THE INDIVIDUALISTIC INSTINCTS 53 

dren. Take, for example, such a phenomenon as a 
thunder storm. If, during the storm, the fears of the 
children are quieted, if parents are calm and uncon- 
cerned, children will acquire an attitude of indiffer- 
ence toward these phenomena that will save them 
much terror in later life. 

(2) On the part of teachers. In the history of edu- 
cation fear has, perhaps, been more universally ap- 
pealed to as a motive than has any other aspect of 
child-nature.* The child has performed his tasks 
because of fear of pain that would ensue if the tasks 
were not performed. Since escaping pain, real or 
imaginary, has always been at the bottom of fear, the 
teacher has, therefore, been appealing to an aspect 
of human nature that could be depended upon to 
function at least as long as the danger of pain was 
imminent. But true to its nature as an instinct, when 
the cause of fear was removed, fear disappeared, and 
no motive for study remained. In these days teach- 
ers try to find many other sources of motive that have 
a wider range of application and that will function 
at all times. However, it may be that we can still 
make considerable legitimate use of this old and 
strong aspect of human nature on a higher plane 
than that of mere physical pain. It may be very 
legitimate for a child to work because of fear that 
he will break a previous good record, or that he may 
lose the good will of teacher or parent. Of course, 
even these motives should not be the main reliance 
of a teacher, but they are legitimate. It is even 
proper for fear of physical pain to function on occa- 
sion. Nature has made great use of the sense of 

♦See Hall's Youth, p. 339. 



54 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

physical pain in the past, and it is by no means cer- 
tain that we can yet afford entirely to dispense 
with it. 

Pugnacity or the fighting instinct. — If a teacher 
doubt the instinctive nature of the manifestations of 
anger or fighting, let him try the experiment of enter- 
ing into a harangue — in apparent seriousness — 
against the character of Roosevelt or Bryan, mean- 
time watching the faces and actions of his students. 
Their faces flush, their teeth set, their eyes 'glare,' 
their breathing is interrupted, and if they be allowed 
to reply it is seen that they have lost control of their 
voices ; in a word, it is quite evident that a number of 
students are ready to fight for their hero. 

The responses due to anger lie back of much of his- 
tory and literature. The wrath of Achilles gave us 
the Trojan war and the Iliad; the wrath of cruel Juno 
gave us the wanderings of Aeneas and the Aeneid. 
In later authentic history, trouble and wars unnum- 
bered have come because of unreasonable anger 
wholly of an instinctive nature, because of the calling 
forth of the savage, prehuman, blind desire to fight. 
Even now as this page is being written the good 
people of our country are debating the question of 
the fortification of the Panama canal! But v/hy 
mention particular cases, when every schoolboy 
knows that all the nations of the earth are taxing 
their people to the point of starvation in order to be 
ready at a moment's notice for inutiial destruction! 
So strong is the fighting instinct in man that there 
are few individuals who are not ready to fight, pro- 
vided that their neighbor steps on their particularly 
sensitive corn, — perhaps their religion, politics, an- 



THE INDIVIDUALISTIC INSTINCTS Ot>- 

cestors, personal failings, their children, or per- 
chance their chickens. 

Causes of anger. — In general, anything interfering 
with one's procedure, one's happiness, evokes the 
fighting response. Usually we have some particular 
** anger zone," some particularly sensitive spot, as 
mentioned above, that never fails to arouse the tiger 
within us. These zones are widely different in differ- 
ent people. I have several times taken a census of 
my classes and found such as the following: seeing 
the strong impose on the weak, to have others med- 
dle, thwarting of purpose, maligning of friends, see- 
ing a person persuading another to do wrong, to hear 
cursing, to have one's failures mentioned, seeing 
bright red, seeing people smoke, seeing affection dis- 
played publicly, to see disrespect, to see others mas- 
ticate, to see a horse mistreated, cheating, deceit, etc. 
What interferes with our pursuits and our happiness 
angers us, and since these pursuits are different for 
all of us, different things call forth our anger. 

Manifestations of anger. — Anger in children is 
shown by such phenomena as biting, scratching, 
gnawing the teeth, making 'faces,' stamping, swal- 
lowing, frothing at the mouth, butting and pound- 
ing with the head. There are also such changes in 
involuntary movements as change of heart-beat and 
breathing. The voice roughens, especially in older 
people. Children often snarl like wild animals and 
show their teeth and bite like a dog. Whether this is 
a matter of imitation or of heredity would be difficult 
to say without further study. 

Control and treatment.— Children can and should 
be taught a measurable degree of control of at least 



56 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

the more violent outbursts of anger. Hall tells us 
that one function of education is to train and tutor 
the savage mind, and for this purpose recommends 
plain talks and spanking, and, as prophylactics, good 
health, work and regularity. Simple methods are — 
to gain control of the voice, drop the jaw, relax the 
muscles, pause and reflect and give inhibiting ideas 
time to rise. Different people have adopted various 
ingenious means of working off the surplus energy 
usually manifested in anger, in such ways, for in- 
stance, as sawing wood, playing the piano, biting the 
finger nails, chewing a toothpick or a nail. Much 
wisdom is needed in dealing with angry children. 
Sometimes they should be neglected, sometimes 
spanked, and should be allowed to suffer the conse- 
quences of their angry acts when these lead to the 
destruction of playthings and other property. How 
to deal with fighting among boys is a serious prob- 
lem. Hall thinks that physical combats in certain 
periods of a boy's life are necessary to develop man- 
liness and self-respect, but this is very doubtful. It 
may be developing a good deal higher type of man- 
hood for a child to learn self-control and to restrain 
his savage passions. However, in the present diver- 
sity in the manner of bringing up children it would 
not do for an individual parent or teacher to forbid 
fighting absolutely. But if there were a general 
agreement among the people of a neighborhood that 
the children should not fight, it is very doubtful that 
any lack of manliness would result from the absence 
of fighting. At present, about all that can be said is 
that teachers and parents should assume the attitude 
that fighting is not proper, but should not absolutely 



THE INDIVIDUALISTIC INSTINCTS 57 

prohibit it, and then deal with each case that comes 
up, on its merits. Certainly, in our modern society we 
do not consider it necessary to 'smash' our neigh- 
bor's nose (except in the rarest of instances) in or- 
der to maintain our honor. We consider it rather a 
poor kind of honor that has to be maintained in that 
way. Therefore, unless it can be shown to be essen- 
tial to individual development, fighting should not be 
fostered in children. And to satisfy the purposes of 
individual development, doubtless the instinct can be 
given activity in some direction other than physical 
encounter. It will be a bad thing for civilisation if 
the fighting spirit ever dies out, but there are plenty 
of means for its development; there are plenty of 
things in our modern society that need 'smashing' 
quite as much as our neighbor's nose, and that re- 
quire a good deal more courage in the operation. 
Therefore, Hall is stating a more important truth 
when he says that we should teach the child to know 
the things that should arouse his righteous indig- 
nation. 

Competition in the school room. — Competition is 
based on the fighting instinct. The proper use to 
make of competition in the teaching process is a seri- 
ous question, but there are certain facts that can 
guide us in its solution. There can be no question of 
the strength of the incentive of competition, but the 
value of its use should be determined by comparing 
the results obtained from its use with those obtained 
by using other incentives. If a teacher or parent can 
appeal to the instinct of competition without injury 
to the disposition or character of the children, then 
its use is legitimate. But there are certainly serious 



58 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

dangers. If a child does something merely to beat 
someone else, then it means that he is happy in his 
own success and his neighbor's failure. Is this a 
trait that we wish to develop in modern society ? It 
certainly is not. We no longer believe that we must 
succeed at the expense of our neighbor, but that our 
mutual success is best for both of us. While this is 
true, it is by no means certain that we can afford to 
give up all forms of competition. If an instinct so 
strong and so universal as that of fighting can be 
utilised, we certainly should lay hands on it, pro- 
vided that we can do so to the ultimate good of the 
individual. This is possible, and competition can 
have at least a subsidiary function as a motive. 
Group or class competition can often well be used 
without injury; one can compete with one's own rec- 
ord, and even with one's fellows, to the end of bring- 
ing forth the best efforts of each, as is done in sports, 
without glorying in the defeat of one's fellows. It 
sometimes happens that to be beaten by a fellow will 
arouse a boy or girl to put forth the best that is in 
him or her when nothing else will, and at the same 
time there will be no resentment toward the victori- 
ous champion that put them on their mettle. Much 
depends on the wisdom of parents and teachers, and 
those with tact and judgment can make much use of 
competition without injury and without making it 
either the chief means or the end of education. 

The only individualistic instincts not more or less 
closely associated with fear or the fighting instincts 
are those connected with feeding. The latter are of 
no great educational importance, and are not treated 
here. 



THE INDIVIDUALISTIC INSTINCTS 59 



QUESTI03SrS AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY. 

1. Make out a complete list of the human individualistic In- 
stincts. 

2. Give incidents from your own experience or observation to 
show that in time of crises individualistic tendencies are likely to 
prove stronger than any other. Have you observed any excep- 
tions? 

3. What is there in our laws relating to the punishment of 
murder that takes account of the strength of individualistic In- 
stinctive tendencies? 

4. Make out a list of all the things that excite fear in you. 
Which of these fears can you explain? For which ones have you 
no explanation? Can' you trace any of these fears to the actions 
of your parents? How many of your fears can be traced to an 
unhappy early experience? 

5. Are you afraid to walk alone at night through a cemetery? 
What is the basis of our fear of the supernatural? Have super- 
natural agencies ever injured our ancestors? Did a ghost ever 
hurt anybody? 

6. Make a study of the fears of children and see if you can 
verify the statement of the text in regard to the pedagogy of fear. 

7. Have you outgrown any fears of childhood? How could a 
person be cured of some unreasonable fear? 

8. Are all children, regardless of their treatment, at some time 
afraid of the dark? Does it do any good to explain to a child that 
there is nothing to be afraid of? 

9. Explain the fear of engines, automobiles and other things 
that were not common to our ancestors. 

10. Compare the necessities of fear at the present time with 
the necessities of fear in the primitive life of man. 

11. Write an account of the fights of your childhood, stating 
their causes and their results. Do you consider the results beneficial 
to you? 

12. Can a child's 'will' be completely subdued? Is such a result 
desirable? 

13. Is it better for a child to have too much or too little regard 
for and confidence in himself? 

14. Compare the control exercised over the individualistic in- 
stincts by the untutored savage and by a high type of civilized 
man. On the other hand, cite the acts of an American mob that 
are on a par with those of the primitive savage. 

15. Did you ever want to kill anybody? Did you ever plan to 
do so? 

16. Why are most individualistic instincts considered bad? 
Show that they were fortunate possessions under primitive condi- 
tions. 

17. Would you prophesy a happy or an unhappy future for a boy 
of seven who is distinguished because of his tendency to resent any 
trespassing upon what he fancies are his rights? Contrast with 



60 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

this type the one that rarely otters opposition to the aggression of 
playmates or others. (O'Shea.) 

18. Are the boys that make the highest marks in school the best 
fij^^ters on the playground? 

19. Under our modern social conditions, does the person that is 
always fighting accomplish the most? Compare Presidents of the 
United States in this regard. 

20. As you look upon it now, what was the effect of competition 
on your life in childhood? 

21. Indicate the legitimate and illegitimate uses of competition 
In school work. Is it a good thing for people to meet failure and be 
defeated occasionally? Can you recall instances in your own life 
when failure did you good? 

22. A boy can run faster in a race than when running alone. 
Is a like thing true when applied to his studies? 

23. Point out instances showing the bad effects of uncondition- 
ally forbidding fighting. See H. D. Marsh, Point of View of Modern 
Education, 1905, p. 70, for an example. 

24. Give your experience with group competition. Can you cite 
instances to show that friendly rivalry with good feeling is possible 
and good? 

REPERENCES. 

On Fear — E. A. Kirkpatrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, Ch. 
vl, p. 99 ; G. Stanley Hall, in American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 
viii, p. 147 ; E. Barnes, studies in Education, Vol. i, p. 18 ; H. M. 
Stanley, Psychological Review, Vol. I, p. 241 ; American Journal of 
Psychology, Vol. ix, p. 418 ; M. W. Calkins, Pedagogical Seminary, 
Vol. iii, p. 319 ; W. Preyer, TJie Senses and the Will, 1895, p. 164 ; 
J. Sully, Studies in Childhood, 1895, Ch. vi. 

Adolescence, Vol. i. p. 451 ; Vol. ii, p. 370 ; B. Perez, First Three 
Years of Childhood, 1892, p. 62 ; A. E. Tanner, The Child, 1904, p. 
219. 

On Anger and the Fighting Instinct — G. Stanley Hall, Am. Jr. 
Psych.. Vol. X, p. 516 ; Adolescence, Vol. i, pp. 220 and 354 ; Vol. ii, 
p. 367 ; Educational Problems, p. 251 ; B. Perez, First Three Years 
of Childhood, 1892, p. 66; M. V. O'Shea, Social Development and 
Education, Chs. vii and viii ; F. L. Burk, Teasing and Bullying, in 
Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. iv, p. 336; A. E. Tanner, The Child, 
1904, p. 216 ; G. Ordahl, Rivalry, its Genetic Development and Peda- 
gogy, in Ped. Sem., Vol. xv, p. 492. 



Chapter VI. 

THE SOCIAL INSTINCTS. 

The chief social instincts are gregariousness or the 
gang instinct, responses connected with the emotion 
of sympathy, including altruistic responses and sim- 
ple forms of co-operation, and certain responses of 
instinctive nature that are connected with the love of 
approbation. 

Gregariousness or the gang instinct. — Children 
naturally desire to be with other children. It makes 
no difference how well occupied or how contented a 
boy may be; the sight of another boy or group of 
boys is quite enough to disturb his peace of mind. 
He immediately prefers to join the other boys and 
play with them. Parents are sometimes shocked 
when they first discover that they are not all-suffi- 
cient for their children, that their children prefer 
children rather than their own parents as playmates. 
There seems no question that children, if free from 
adult interference, are responding to a natural de- 
sire and perhaps to a natural necessity when they 
come together to play. Although the individualistic 
instincts are so strong that in the early years of 
childhood play is seldom harmonious for long at a 
time, nevertheless the gang instinct is at work and 
gradually gains the ascendency over the individual- 
istic tendencies, the latter to some extent becoming 
subordinate to the former. The trouble that children 

[61] 



62 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

of the present day have in getting along together is, 
perhaps, in large measure due to parental interfer- 
ence and meddling. If the children were allowed to 
settle their own matters in their own way, they would 
doubtless get along much better than they do. A cer- 
tain form of stability and equilibrium would be estab- 
lished and maintained. Moreover, the fights that 
primitive children engaged in were doubtless fitting 
preparations for the life that they were to live. 

As far as we have any direct knowledge, consider- 
able association with other children seems to be nec- 
essary for the normal development of a child. How- 
ever, it is well toward adolescence before the tenden- 
cies that lead to co-operation are strong enough to 
enable children to sink their individuality and work 
for the good of the group, — club, gang, school, team, 
class, or whatever the social group may be. Children 
often form clubs, doubtless in imitation of those of 
older children, before the social tendencies are suffi- 
ciently strong to hold them together. The result is 
usually not a happy one ; the children quarrel and get 
along badly because they can not put the interests of 
the group above their own desires. Just before 
adolescence, however, the tendencies underlying the 
gang instinct are strong enough to enable a club to 
hold together for a season. The clubs and gangs 
that are formed in later childhood and youth as a 
result of these tendencies, and from other causes dis- 
cussed in a later paragraph, furnish one of the im- 
portant problems to the teachers of our towns and 
cities, and to some extent to those of the rural 
schools as well. 



THE SOCIAL INSTINCTS 63 

Chums. — Chumming is, perhaps, a specialised ex- 
pression of the gang instinct, and deserves separate 
consideration. Investigation reveals the fact that 
most children at some time or other have chums. In 
chumming, each child suffices for the other, often to 
the entire exclusion of other children. It is a com- 
mon thing in the school room to see two children who 
wish to be constantly together; when play- time 
comes, they seek each other's company and care not 
for the society of other children. This is not best for 
young children, as we shall see when we come to 
study the instinct of imitation. Whatever be the 
merits of any child, they are not sufficient to consti- 
tute a social environment large enough for any other 
child. The effect of chumming on young children 
can not be other than narrowing and leads to exclu- 
siveness and snobbishness. Sometimes the stronger 
child dominates the weaker one, leading him into mis- 
chief. Among older children, chumming often causes 
neglect of duties and thoughtlessness toward oth- 
ers. Chums care not for the rest of the world, for 
they are self-sufficing, as they think, but in the end 
this certainly can not be so, at least for young chil- 
dren. There are, nevertheless, certain good things 
that come from having a close chum. Among the 
good influences that have been mentioned by my stu- 
dents as a result of their chum experience are the fol- 
lowing: (1) the gaining of higher ideals from a 
chum; (2) one person supplements the character of 
another; (3) as a result of the supplementing of 
character, one chum acts as a check on the other; 
(4) teaches unselfishness; (5) broadens by teaching 
the value of friendship; (6) chum stimulates to ef- 



64 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

fort. Doubtless much depends on the temperament, 
character and age of the people concerned. It may 
very well be that in later youth the experience may 
be very beneficial to both concerned. A strong child 
may be of great help to a weaker and get as much 
help himself by virtue of helping his friends. In 
later adolescence, after character is pretty well 
formed, strong and close friendships are doubtless 
valuable. To have a friend that one is willing to fight 
for, and, if necessary, die for, puts new meaning into 
life and makes it worth living. Then, in summary, 
children should not have their association narrowed 
to any one child, but in later adolescence, when char- 
acter begins to crystallise, much good may come from 
close associations, but even then the rest of the world 
must not be shut out. 

Gangs and clubs. — Boys' clubs, their dangers and 
possibilities, assume a large importance at the pres- 
ent time. Eiis, Forbush and Jane Addams have 
made us familiar with these problems. A census 
taken by the author of about 100 students in a certain 
class revealed the fact that most of them had been 
members of a club. These students were asked to 
give the effects, bad and good,that come from belong- 
ing to these clubs and gangs. The good points men- 
tioned were: (1) social training; (2) literary train- 
ing; (3) skill in sewing, painting, etc.; (4) gives an 
understanding of human nature; (5) gives high 
ideals; (6) good effects from being kept out-of- 
doors; (7) friendships formed; (8) sympathies 
broadened; (9) leadership and self-reliance taught 
by the club or gang. The bad effects mentioned were 
such as the following: (1) narrowing; (2) make 



THE SOCIAL INSTINCTS 65 

members snobbish; (3) make members clannish; (4) 
teach bad code of ethics; (5) teach law-breaking; (6) 
lead to quarreling and make enemies. Many of these, 
bad as well as good, were due to the special object or 
nature of the particular club. 

The gang instinct is strong, and it is evident that if 
it could be allowed to manifest itself, with the evil 
influences lopped off, a great gain would thereby be 
effected for education. And a study of the bad influ- 
ences leads to the conclusion that they may, in part 
at least, be avoided. At a certain age the formation 
of clubs and gangs seems to be a very natural thing 
for boys and girls to do, and this natural tendency 
ought to be taken advantage of if possible in the in- 
terest of education. It should be made to help in the 
education of youth, instead of allowed to be a hin- 
drance. This, of course, may be said in regard to all 
natural tendencies, — they must be utilised in the 
scheme of education, if it is at all possible. When 
this is not possible, and we are sure that the educa- 
tion itself is not wrong, then the tendency should in 
most cases be killed, allowed to die for want of exer- 
cise. 

The spirit of the club should be spontaneous, but 
older people can direct the purpose of the club and 
the gang instinct can be aligned with other instincts, 
particularly with the play, the collecting and the 
migratory instincts. Young people do not resent the 
interference of elders if the elders are in sympathy 
with youth. Every club can have its adviser and its 
whole influence can be directed toward good and the 
natural development of the members. But great tact 
and good judgment are needed on the part of those 



66 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

who would advise or direct boys' clubs. Boys are 
active and need to lead a vigorous, athletic, out-of- 
door life. They do not care to belong to a club for 
the suppression of noise or for the establishment of 
a New England Sabbath, or even for the study of 
Shakespeare. Nor do they wish as advisers weak 
women or 'sissy' men. Boys are boys and must lead 
a boy's life; the more vigorous, the better for the 
boy. They are naturally suspicious of the kind old 
deacon who wishes to "do them good." He usually 
wishes to make old men out of them seventy years too 
early. The kind of club that they prefer is such that 
calls into activity the deepest, strongest forces of 
their nature, — fishing club, hunting club, camping 
club, athletic club, naturalist's club, all of which pro- 
vide for great activity, and which usually take them 
out-of-doors and give opportunity for an active life. 
And he who would be an adviser of boys must be a 
boy himself. He may be seventy years old, but the 
spirit of youth must be in him. 

Why gangs are formed. — In our large cities gangs 
are numerous, almost one to every block. The reason 
for this unusual manifestation of the gang spirit is 
pretty clear. The gang, in its present form, is one 
of the products of our modern society, the outgrowth 
of modern social development. Under more primi- 
tive conditions, the child's natural desire for social 
activity was well provided for in the ordinary work 
and play with brothers and sisters and also with 
neighbors. The modern city child has no work and 
not the right kind of play, — free, outdoor romping 
and running, chasing, and exploring wood and 
stream. That the modern school does not fully pro- 



THE SOCIAL INSTINCTS 67 

vide for the social instincts shows that it is not en- 
tirely the right kind of school. The school room has 
been a sort of jail, where children, although phys- 
ically in proximity, were socially isolated. Mutual 
help and free intercourse among the children — the 
perfectly natural thing — have for the most part been 
forbidden. Although the development of the social 
instincts is one of the greatest possibilities of the 
school, this one thing it has largely failed to do, and, 
instead, has turned their training over to the streets. 
The possibilities of organising the school as a club 
to provide properly for the social needs of the chil- 
dren have hardly been dreamed of. A number of 
children forming a room or grade should be a unit 
for doing all the things that the children ought to do. 
Now it should be a nature study club for the finding 
out of all the wonders of the wide out-of-doors, now 
a debating club, now an athletic club, now a picnic 
club, and so on. In a word, the school should supply 
all the needs of the child, at least all those not sup- 
plied by the home. In the school the child should find 
full scope for all activities. The traditional school 
can not do this. Its scope and function and form of 
procedure must be greatly enlarged. It is a great 
mistake to make the school stationary. The world 
can not be brought into a school room, neither can 
child-development best go on there. The school 
should be a social unit, but should do its work wher- 
ever that work can best be done. If a part of the 
world can not be brought into the school room, then 
the child should be taken to it. As a nature study 
club, the school should explore the natural environ- 
ment, and as a civic club it should study the civic and 



68 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

social environment. This does not mean that the 
school should be called a club for this or that, but 
that it should perform these social functions. The 
education of the child should be controlled by the 
school and the home. The movements outside of 
school to organise children are dangerous. The 
whole training and education of the child should be 
unified and under the control of professional teach- 
ers scientifically trained for their work. If there is 
a part of child-nature that the school and home are 
not taking care of, then they must enlarge their 
sphere. And it is the contention here that the school 
organisation should provide for all the social needs 
of the children that are not taken care of by the home. 
Another reason for the modern street gang is the 
disappearance of home-life. The child in the rural 
community that has plenty of work and play at home 
with brothers and sisters and parents has most of 
the needs of his nature satisfied. The city child, as 
already mentioned, has no work and no proper play. 
He can not work alongside of his parents, for they 
are away from home at the factory; therefore the 
child must go to the street and join the gang when 
he is not in an unsocial school room vigilantly 
watched by a teacher whom he too often considers a 
taskmaster and an enemy. We are aware that these 
conditions are not universal and are far from be- 
lieving that they are necessary. The school can be 
so organised as to make other forms of organisation 
both unnecessary and impossible. To this end, parks 
and playgrounds can be much extended and the na- 
ture and function of the school much changed. And 
a thing very much to be desired is the revival of 



THE SOCIAL INSTINCTS 69 

home-life. The modern parent does not live with his 
children nearly as much as he should and can. The 
family fireside must be revived, although around the 
radiator. Parents must live much more with their 
children and enter much more into their activities. 
This will solve a large part of the difficulty and ren- 
der the necessity of the gang not nearly so great. 
For the gang is not solely a manifestation of the 
gang instinct, but a means of providing for a number 
of activities and interests not properly provided for. 
If the home and school provide for these needs, the 
street gang will not be a necessity for the child. The 
worst influences of the gang are seen in the largest 
cities, where so many aspects of the child's life are 
neglected and where family life has suffered most 
decay. 

High school fraternities. — Probably worse than the 
gang of the city street is the high school fraternity, 
opposing the best interests of the school and of 
democracy itself, and by imitating the social activi- 
ties of adults, ripening the sexual instincts prema- 
turely, and forming habits of dissipation, snobbish- 
ness, extravagance and idleness. But that within 
the school itself an organisation should be formed to 
provide for the socialistic instincts is the very best 
proof that the school is not fulfilling its function 
in this respect, although it must be recognised that 
many influences are at work to produce the school 
fraternity. The boy who must hurry home from 
school to use the bucksaw, shovel, ax or hoe, and who 
spends the evening around the family fireside read- 
ing and talking with parents and brothers and sis- 
ters, is receiving a much better training for citizen- 



70 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

ship and manhood than the city boy who belongs to 
a fraternity and spends much of his time outside of 
the school and family. A boy's best club should be 
the family circle and his best chum should be his 
father; even the school should be secondary and 
supplementary. 

Sympathy and co-operation. — If the modern school 
should make greater demands upon the instinctive 
tendencies connected with the emotion of sympathy, 
with co-operation and altruism, and somewhat less 
upon the individualistic instincts, it would strengthen 
these late and weak tendencies and be better for our 
modern society. There is no reason why the school 
should not be a training in social service and co- 
operation. The idea should be to bring out the best 
in each individual for the good of the whole, and each 
child should learn to do what he can do best. The 
children in school, therefore, should act much as do 
children in the home, mutually helping one another, 
and should early learn that the welfare of each is 
dependent upon the welfare of the whole, while the 
welfare of the group depends upon each one's doing 
his best. Children can not be prepared for social and 
civic duties without conscious and directed training. 
These facts do not mean that the formal aspect of a 
club is necessary, nor do they mean that a school is 
to be transformed into a mob, or into a George 
Junior or Senior Eepublic, or any other of the 
numerous fads proposed every day. The school 
must always be much of a monarchy, just as the 
home should also be, but a monarchy whose ruler is 
wise and benevolent and who rules only because the 
subjects are not wise enoiift'li to rule themselves, and 



THE SOCIAL INSTINCTS 71 

whose rule is the best sort of preparation for self- 
government. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOE FTTUTHEIl STUDY. 

1. Write up the history of your owu experieuce with chums and 
point out the effects, good and bad. 

2. Study the members of some family with the purpose of deter- 
mining whether there is any difference in the degree of social- 
isation, comparing the older with the younger. In a similar way 
make a study of as many children as possible that are only chil- 
dren, and determine whether there is any uniformity in their 
variation from the average child that is reared in a larger family. 
A good procedure would be to deteruiine the characteristics of '60 
only children, then determine the characteristics of 50 children, 
chosen at random, that are members of larger families. 

3. If the parents are careful and wise, and the only child has 
plenty of playmates, can it become as well socialised as the child 
of a larger family? 

4. If the first part of one's life is largely spent in solitude, are 
the social instincts likely to be much developed? Do you know of 
such a case? 

5. What part does imitation of elders play in the formation of 
clubs and gangs by young people? 

6. Do you know anyone who is individualistic and solitary in 
his habits? If you know of such a case, can you explain it? Can 
you cite the case of a child whose selfish nature is being allowed 
to develop at the expense of the social nature? 

7. In a family of several children, do you think that either child 
has any advantage as far as the development of the social instincts 
is concerned? Make careful observations with this point in mind. 

8. Make a study of pupil self-government to see if it fosters the 
development of the social nature. Read a description of the meth- 
ods used in the George Junior Republic. (See the references.) 

9. Would it be well for children to have perfect liberty to help 
one another in the schoolroom? 

10. Do twins make good chums for each other, or are they too 
much alike? 

11. Are country children as likely to form gangs and clubs as 
are city children? 

12. If plenty of social activity is provided, do we still have the 
club and gang? 

13. How can parents prevent the necessity of clubs and gangs? 

14. How should a teacher deal with a spoilt child — one that is 
selfish and has not been properly socialised? 

15. In the process of socialisation, by measuring himself up with 
his fellows, a person may discover that he is inferior in some re- 
spects. Is this discovery a good thing for him? 



72 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

16. Would many parks in a city help to lessen the evil effects 
of gangs? 

17. In what way can education properly utilize the gang instinct? 

18. Make a study of some cases of chumming and close friend- 
ships and try to determine the cause of the mutual attraction. 
What is the basis of your attraction to your best friends? 

19. Show the necessity of co-operation and sympathy in mod- 
ern social life. 

20. Show that, from the point of view taken in the first chapter, 
a part of the function of the school is the proper socialisation of 
the pupils. Show how the school does this work ; how it could do 
it better. 

21. Show what a great character in a community is the man 
or woman who shows the most earnest and real co-operation and 
sympathy. Note that there are always characters that assume such 
a role, but do not possess the virtue. 

22. Are chums likely to sink to the lowest that is in them, or 
rise to the best? What can you say about gangs in this respect? 

23. Show that Dewey's scheme of education as outlined in 
School and Society takes proper account of social instincts. Have 
you any criticism of the scheme? 

24. Enumerate all the changes in the schools necessary to make 
them take proper account of the socialistic instincts. 

25. Try to discover the rules of boys' gangs. Does your study 
throw any light on the nature of boys and their proper training? 

2G. Indicate various attempts of the present time to organize 
young people. Show that all this work is properly the work of the 
school. 

27. If you are, or ever have been, a member of a fraternity, 
enumerate its benefits and disadvantages. Is it possible to remove 
the disadvantages, or are they inherent in the nature of a frater- 
nity? Is the same thing true of both the high school and univer- 
sity fraternities? 

BEFEBENCES. 

The gregarious instinct, clubs, gangs, etc., E. A, Kirkpatrick, 
FundumentaU of Child Study, p. 118; G. S. Hall, Adolescence, Vol. 
ii, Ch. XV ; also in Youth, p. 207; also, Some Social Aspects of Edu- 
cation, in Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. ix, p. 81 ; H. D. Sheldon, 
Am. Jour. Psych., Vol. ix, 425; W. B, Forbush, Pedagogical Semi- 
nary, Vol. vii, p. 307; also Vol. xvi, p. 337; also The Boy Problem, 
1901, Chs. ii and iii ; \Y. Buck, Boys' Self -Governing Clubs, 1903; 
J. A. Riis. The Children of the Poor, 1892, Ch. xiii ; also on The 
Genesis of the Gang, A Ten Yeais' War, 1900, Ch. v, and Battle 
tvith the Slum, 1902, Ch. ix ; Jane Addams, The Spirit of Youth 
and the City Streets, 1909; also Democracy and Social Ethics, 
1907; M. V. O'Shea, Social Development and Education, 1909, Chs. 
xi and xiii; J. Dewey, The School and Society. 1900, gives some 
idea of what a socialized education would be like; on the George 
Junior Republic see George Junior Repuhlic, Nothing Without 



THE SOCIAL INSTINCTS 73 

Labor, 1910; W. R. George, TJie Junior Republic, 1910; also J. E. 
Guuckel, BoyviUe, 1905, shows what adult direction can accom- 
plish with the boys of the city ; J. W. L. Jones, Sociality and Sym- 
pathy, Psych. Rev. Mon. Sup., Vol. v, No. 1. 

On Chums, see F. G. Bonser, Fed. Sem., Vol. ix, 221. 

On the Only Child in a Family, see Bohaunon, Ped. Setn., Vol. 
V, p. 475. 

The parental and sexual instincts are not treated in this book, 
but the subject is of great importance to the teacher. The following 
references will be found helpful : P. Geddes and J. A. Thompson, 
The Evolution of Sex, 1890; C. R. Henderson, Education with, 
Reference to Sex, 1909; M. B. Williams, Sex Prohlems, 1910; G. S. 
Hall, Adolescence, Vol. ii, Ch. xi ; also Educational Prohlems, Vol. 
i, Ch. vii, and Vol. ii, Ch. ix. 



Chaptee VII. 
THE ENVIEONMENTAL INSTINCTS. 

The Migeatoky Instinct. 

The migrations of lower animals. — The migrations 
of seals will well illustrate this instinct. At a certain 
season of the year the seals leave the Alaskan islands 
and go southward in the Pacific ocean for hundreds 
and even thousands of miles. They stay south dur- 
ing the fall and winter, and return in the spring to 
the northern islands to breed. The dates of their 
return to the breeding islands show remarkable reg- 
ularity. Changes in the environment — the seasonal 
changes — and changes in the seal's body itself serve 
as the stimulii to start it off on its long journey. 
Back and forth it goes, year after year, with clock- 
like regularity. The past life and experience of the 
seal has left its body with such an inherited neuro- 
muscular structure, — with co-ordinations ready 
formed, — that the conditions of its existence send it 
forth on its annual circuit to the south to feed, and 
back again to the northern islands to breed. No less 
interesting is the case of the salmon. At a certain 
season of the year the Columbia river is literally 
alive with these fish. With head turned up-stream, 
irresistibly and with the blind determination of fatal- 
ism, they make their way to the gravel and sand of 
the head-waters of the Columbia to spawn. Not a 

[74] 



THE ENVIKONMENTAL, INSTINCTS 75 

bite of food do they take, but steadily go on, leaping 
the falls and rapids, till they reach the shallow 
waters, their bodies being much the worse for wear. 
After reaching this destination, they deposit their 
eggs, and drift down stream, tail first, to die. The 
young hatch and slowly make their way down stream 
to the ocean, where they live for a few years, grow- 
ing to considerable size, and finally seek the river's 
mouth and go up-stream to spawn and die, repeating 
the life-circuit. This is even more remarkable than 
is the migration of the seal, for it is conceivable that 
in the case of the seal the young could follow the old 
ones and learn the habit of migration. But with the 
salmon this is not possible, for the young are not 
accompanied down stream by the old fish. Each host 
of salmon is a new crop, and in its migration to and 
from the sea can be responding only to a blind im- 
pulse. Quite similar to the migrations of the seals 
is that of the birds. In the fall the birds come to- 
gether, often in great flocks, and soon start south for 
the southern states, Mexico, and even Central and 
South America, where they spend the winter. As the 
northern spring comes on, the birds start north again 
and go to their old nesting places with considerable 
regularity, the time varying somewhat with the con- 
dition of the weather. Sometimes they return to the 
same tree, and even to the same nest, after journey- 
ing, in some cases, for many thousands of miles. 
What has brought about this wonderful phenomenon 
of migration in many animals? The answer to this 
question for any particular species of animal is to be 
found in the past history of the species and of its 
environment. All surviving animals are delicately 



76 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

adjusted to tlie conditions of their surroundings. 
These conditions are seasonal and climatic changes 
and changes of the food supply. Experiments have 
confirmed the idea of the close relations that animals 
have to the conditions of their surroundings. To 
give one illustration: tadpoles confined in a vessel 
can be made to migrate by varying the temperature 
of the water. By heating the water at one place and 
keeping it cool elsewhere, the tadpoles are made to 
go to that place in the vessel of water whose tempera- 
ture suits them best. Certain temperatures and defi- 
nite conditions as regards the other factors of the 
environment are most favorable for the growth and 
life of every species. 

Migrations in response to seasonal and climatic 
changes, and varying conditions of food-supply, have 
doubtless been as important a factor in the past life 
of man as with lower animals. It seems quite likely 
that man has passed through various stages of exist- 
ence as regards food, such as fruit-eating, fishing and 
hunting. Granting that this is the case, then it would 
follow that migration has played an important role 
in his past life. Man has doubtless had a most deli- 
cate relation and adjustment to forest and stream, 
hill and valley, to changing seasons, to day and night, 
and perhaps even to the varying phases of the moon. 
If the generally accepted tlieory of man's origin and 
development is correct, we should naturally expect 
that his long apprenticeship to these rhythmical 
changes of nature would leave some remnant or trace 
in his organism. Moreover, nearly all history begins 
with vague legends and traditions of migrations. 
Back of the history of Greece and Italy and England 



THE ENVIEONMENTAL INSTINCTS 77 

is migration. Great migrations of the American In- 
dians are well established. 

But we have much more than analogy and specula- 
tion on whicli to base a theory of a human migratory 
instinct. A careful study of childhood and youth, a 
study of such phenomena as truancies and runa- 
ways, and atavistic, roving tendencies in many 
adults, shows beyond question the traces of impulses 
to rove, old in racial history, still existing in man. 
Of course, man's condition for some time has been 
predominantly sessile. The lengthening period of 
infancy, necessitating family life, has made more and 
more for stability and permanency of abode, and 
weakened the wandering and migrating tendencies, 
causing man to move only when the environing pres- 
sure became extreme. Man has built him a home, and 
social influences and the necessities of rearing the 
children have kept him and wife and children there. 
But when social influences are weak and the condi- 
tions favoring roving or moving are strong, either 
parent may leave the home, and especially likely to 
go are the children. So, although the migratory im- 
pulse is subdued and controlled by social and pa- 
rental influences, certain conditions unfavorable to 
home life may make it possible for the instinctive 
tendency to become operative, and sometimes active 
for life. In the Gypsies, the roving instinct is a prom- 
inent factor of life. Tramps and '^hoboes" travel 
about all their life under control of the blind impulse 
to move. It seems, then, that in childhood and youth 
there appears a genuine, inherited tendency to mi- 
grate, to move about and see and explore other 
places, but that favorable home conditions overcome 



78 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

this impulse ordinarily. And, on the other hand, 
unfavorable home and school conditions, and possi- 
bly other factors, may produce truancies and runa- 
ways that seem truly instinctive in nature, and in 
some cases a roving life thus begun is continued 
and the individual is never afterward content to re- 
main long in one place. Tliis roving disposition 
looks very much like a condition of atavism or rever- 
sion. Almost every community has its ''gad-abouts," 
both women and men. There are men who stay with 
their families but a short time, then go away. Often 
they return after irregular intervals, with a deter- 
mination to stay at home, but it is not for long, for 
off they go again. 

Truancies and runaways. — Truancies and runa- 
ways take place most frequently in the spring and 
summer. This, a priori, is to be expected, if the the- 
ory of the migratory instinct set forth above is cor- 
rect. The spring must always have been an impor- 
tant period of migration for primitive man after a 
more or less enforced life in one place during the 
winter. It is well known that the American Indian 
broke camp and set forth in the spring on warring 
and hunting expeditions. Most i)eople of our own 
race, with the approach of spring, feel the impulse to 
move, to go anywhere to get out of the house. Then, 
too, don't we have our annual migration when we 
move every spring into another house? At any rate, 
whatever be the explanation, most truancies occur 
in the spring. 

As soon as children are able to walk and get out of 
doors, they run away, blindly going on and on, 
neither knowing nor caring whither, but greatly en- 



THE ENVIKONMENTAL INSTINCTS 79 

joying the going. It takes, however, only a little care 
to break this early tendency to explore the world and 
to fix fairly well the habit of staying close to the 
house. But, easy as it is, some parents allow the 
matter to trouble them for years, when perhaps the 
proper use of a little switch would, at the beginning, 
set the matter right. In later childhood and early 
youth the tendency to run away comes in different 
and much stronger form. In the years just preced- 
ing adolescence, and during the early years of ado- 
lescence, there are many cases of both truancy and 
runaway. If the tendency is not checked and sub- 
dued in early adolescence, there is much danger of 
permanent roving tendencies. There is, perhaps, 
considerable danger in allowing a person, even in 
later adolescence, to see too much of the world before 
home ties and domestic habits have become quite 
strong. We are told by students of this subject that 
during the years of eight to twelve the roving instinct 
is either subdued or becomes a life-long tendency, as 
a rule. The rover may become a life-time tramp; 
sometimes he drifts into a life of crime. The danger 
of this is very great, for the man who is here today 
and somewhere else tomorrow does not feel the same 
respect for social custom, for life and property, as 
does the permanent member of a community. Some- 
times the rover marries and attempts to live a settled 
life, with the result already mentioned, — he period- 
ically leaves home, — sometimes, however, he does not 
leave, but continues to move with his whole family 
several times a year. 

Causes of Truancies. — From wKat has been said 
about the nature of truancy, it is evident that any- 



80 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

thing which works against the social influence of the 
school and home may serve to call the migratory 
instinct into being. Among these are: (1) the desire 
to work and play out-of-doors; (2) the dislike of 
school; (3) dislike of the teacher; (4) impatience of 
restraint, i. e., a desire for free activity; (5) a vague 
discontent with the school and home surroundings 
and a blind desire to see and try other places. One's 
life is new and the world is new, and one wishes to 
go forth and try the new life in the great new world. 
This cause doubtless operates in the spring after the 
children have been in school all the winter. The work 
has become monotonous and irksome, the body is 
somewhat weakened by continued study and not 
enough exercise, the school loses its charm and the 
world outside calls loudly. The desire to get out and 
run away is then strong and unreasonable, and cer- 
tainly appears to have the nature of a blind instinct. 
Unless school and home conditions are pretty favor- 
able, many boys now play truant or run away. 

The dislike of the school and of the teacher de- 
serves more extended treatment. The dislike of school 
may be due to inability to do the work of the school 
well. And this, in turn, may be due to sensory de- 
fects, to poor nutrition, some other bodily defect, to 
poor adaptation to the grade of work required. But 
it matters not what the cause may be, if the child is 
unable to do the work, he will not like the school very 
long. Another cause is dislike for the hind of work 
required. The work may make demands on activities 
that are not functioning at the time, that have not yet 
appeared, and may leave unappealed to, functions that 
are demanding activity. It is said that pupils seldom 



THE ENVIRONMENTAL. INSTINCTS 81 

run away from manual training schools. And as re- 
gards the teacher, whatever the nature of the work, 
there will not be very great love for school if the 
teacher himself is not attractive. School, and some- 
times the home, present too much the aspect of a 
prison. The child runs away from the prisons in his 
desire for free activity. 

Certain anthropological and sociological consid- 
erations throw much light on the cause of truancy. 
It is found that truants are not so tall, not so heavy, 
not so strong, not so well developed physically as the 
average person of the same age. Most truants are 
the oldest, youngest or the only child, — the child not 
so well socialised. Some 65% of truants have incom- 
plete homes. Poor home influence and poor heredity 
both make for weak social forces which allow the 
more primitive instincts to come forth. When poor 
home influences coincide with bad school conditions, 
then truancies and runaways may be expected, while 
if only one of these conditions exists, truancies ought 
not to be so likely to occur. 

The school and the migratory instinct. — There are 
two possibilities of taking account of the instinct by 
education: (1) The child's natural desire to see and 
explore and travel should be in part gratified by the 
school and home. The curriculum and the methods 
of teaching should both make considerable demand 
for out-door work, done both formally and in- 
formally. Most of the world is outside of the school 
room. Education endeavors to acquaint the child 
with the world. The railroad, the steam engine, the 
automobile, the factory and workshop, the rivers, hills 
and mountains, the birds and squirrels and bugs and 



82 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

bees and flowers, the city hall and the court house 
and the governor's mansion, — are all outside of the 
school house, as are also the various and raanifold 
activities of man. Not only should the study of these 
things take the child out-of-doors, but the material 
that is furnished by the out-of-door study should 
constitute much of the subject-matter that occupies 
the children while within the school room. To illus- 
trate : The study of geography should involve mak- 
ing a complete exploration of the locality, charting 
its various geographical features, such as streams 
and hills, forests, etc. The processes of land-forma- 
tion and of erosion should be studied first-hand. This 
work should make the children explorers and would 
go a long way toward satisfying the desire to get out 
of the school house and rove. The study of the fauna 
and flora of the locality would also furnish opportu- 
nity for much out-door work and would in every way 
be a splendid thing for the children, satisfying many 
needs of their natures. Within limits, then, educa- 
tion can and should satisfy the demands of whatever 
instinctive desire to rove and explore the children 
may have. (2) The school and the home should have 
their social aspects made of such a nature and 
strength that the children will have little desire for 
any more extended migrations than those provided 
for by the school and home. The school and home 
should be the center around which the child revolves, 
but should exert such a strong pull upon him that he 
will not leave liis orbit, comet-like, perhaps never to 
return. In other words, if the school and home sat- 
isfy the normal needs of the child, there need not be 
much fear that it will run away from either. 



the environmental instincts 83 

The Collecting Instinct. 

Its universality. — Statistical studies show that 
practically all children make collections at some time 
in early life. Doubtless imitation and suggestion can 
account for many of the facts, and still other of the 
facts might be referred to certain of the individual- 
istic instincts. But such studies of the subject as 
have been made make it appear that the universality 
of the phenomena can not be adequately explained 
except on the ground of a specific instinct. Children 
from a very early age show a disposition to lay their 
hands on everything that attracts their attention and 
to take it home, — such things as pebbles, sticks, 
leaves, acorns, bright pieces of metal, colored paper, 
cloth and strings, — anything that attracts the atten- 
tion. The objects are not taken with any end in 
view — at least are not at first — and often very little 
attention is paid to the objects afterward. It looks 
very much like the remnant of an instinct to appro- 
priate everything loose that could possibly be of any 
service. The impulse is not only apparently univer- 
sal, but is pretty strong. The fact that as many as 
five collections have been found to be made on an 
average by the children of a public school shows that 
much energy is expended in making these collections- 
Development of the instinct.— Children make col- 
lections as early as the age of three. The impulse 
to collect increases in strength till the age of eleven, 
when it reaches a maximum, and from about the age 
of fourteen there is a decline. Up to the age of eight 
the impulse is crude and groping, undirected by any 
motive, but from the age of eight on. the impulse de- 



84 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

velops into a genuine interest. In some cases it 
becomes a strong passion, superseding nearly all 
other interests. At first there seems to be little inter- 
est in the things themselves that are collected; the 
phenomena are those of a blind, groping instinct. 
Later, the objects collected assume to their possessor 
great value, whether they be worthless, cancelled 
stamps or Indian arrowheads. Each individual ob- 
ject is carefully preserved, and often the possessor 
would not sell his collection for any price. 

Every conceivable kind of thing is collected; nat- 
ural objects, however, rank highest. Of course, imi- 
tation has much to do with determining the kind of 
thing collected. The specialisation of the object that 
calls forth the response of collecting is in harmony 
with the general fact of the specialisation of stimulus 
that has already been mentioned. A particular kind 
of thing, or a particular range of things, calls forth 
the response to the exclusion of other kinds of ob- 
jects. Many of the phenomeua here doubtless fall 
within the realm of habit, but there seems to be a 
natural tendency back of the habits. 

In the earlier stages of the instinct little arrange- 
ment is to be found in the collections, little classifica- 
tion. The collectors are naturalists rather than 
scientists. The objects are merely heaped to- 
gether, often in a heterogeneous mass, sometimes not 
got together at all, merely left around about the 
house ; but later much skill and interest are shown in 
arranging and classifying the objects. 

Pedagogy of the collecting instinct. — Education 
could profit greatly by making large demands upon 
the collecting instinct. It seems clear that early 



THE ENVIEONMENTAL INSTINCTS 85 

childhood is the time to send children forth to the 
fields and woods, to study what they find there and 
to gather specimens. The children can form nat- 
uralists' clubs for the purpose of studying the nat- 
ural environment. Such study should embrace rocks, 
soils, plants with their leaves, flowers, fruits and 
specimens of the wood of the various trees. Birds 
and insects can be studied and collections made of 
each species. The work of such a club would have a 
twofold value. (1) The study and collecting acquaint 
the child with his natural environment, and in doing 
it afford a sphere for the activity of many aspects of 
his nature. They take him out-of-doors and give an 
opportunity for exploring every nook and corner of 
the natural environment. The collecting can often 
be done in such a way as to appeal to the group in- 
stincts. For instance, the club could hold meetings 
for exhibiting and studying the specimens, and some- 
times the actual collecting might be done by children 
in groups. (2) The specimens collected should be 
put into the school museum, and the aim of this 
museum should be to represent completely the local 
environment, the natural and physical environment, 
and also the industrial, civil and social environment. 
The museum should be completely illustrative of the 
child's natural, physical and social environment. 
The museum, therefore, would be educative in its 
making, and when it is made it would have immense 
value to the community, not only to the children, but 
to the whole people. In this museum, of course, 
should be found the minerals, rocks, soils, insects — 
particularly those economically important — birds, 
especially those of any economic importance, and 



86 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIOISIAL PSYCHOLOGY 

also specimens of all the wild animals of the locality. 
If proper appeal is made to the natural desire of the 
children to make collections, this instinct would soon 
be made of service in producing a very valuable col- 
lection. The school museum in which they are placed 
should also include other classes of specimens. 
There should be specimens showing industrial evolu- 
tion, the stages of manufacture of the raw material 
of the locality, specimens of local historical interest, 
pictures, documents, books. The room in which these 
specimens are housed should be at least as large as 
the regular school room. The nmseum and a smaller 
room for a work shop should be most important 
parts of the school building. In rural communities, 
perhaps in all communities, the school building 
should be the center of interest and activity for all 
the people of the community. When we add to the 
museum a library, not only for the children, but for 
the old people as well, we have a pretty good idea of 
what ought to be in a school house. The school 
should stand for the interests of the community and 
should represent them. It could be made of such a 
nature that the parents would go there nearly as 
often as do the children. The school should be for 
the instruction of all the people of the community. 
It should be the experiment station, the library, the 
debating club, the art gallery, for the whole commu- 
nity, and should crystallise the life of the community 
and unify it. Of course, the man who runs the school 
should Imow and represent the community life; he 
should be a man capable of giving advice to the peo- 
ple of the community concerning the things that they 



THE ENVIRONMENTAL INSTINCTS. 87 

must do and the life that they must live. lu the farm- 
ing communities he should know more about farm- 
ing than any one else in the community. This ideal 
school is not all to grow out of the collecting instinct, 
but this instinct and the museum that is to come from 
it would be important factors in making such a 
school. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOE rURTHER STUDY. 
The Migratory Instinct. 

1. Make a complete study of a case of chronic truancy, consider- 
ing it from every point of view. Discover tlie boy's natural desires 
and inclinations ; inquire carefully into home conditions and hered- 
itary influences. Are both parents living? Bo they live together? 
What is the boy's position in the family, i. e., is he an only child, 
youngest child, oldest child? Hovp^ large is the family? What are 
the school conditions? How does the boy get on with his studies, 
with the other pupils, with his teacher? 

2. Can you find a case of truancy in which the home and school 
conditions are good and the child does well with his studies? If 
you can find such a case, is there an explanation for it in the ex- 
cessive migratory impulses of the child? 

3. Did you ever 'play' truant or run away from home yourself? 
If so, what were the causes and consequences? 

4. Make a study of as many cases of truancy as possible to 
determine whether the truants have any natural traits in common. 
For example, do they love the woods and streams? Do they like 
to hunt or fish? Are they more interested in objects of nature 
than the average child? Do they know more about what is doing 
in the world, more about machinery, etc., than the average child? 

5. When you have the opportunity, make a study of the an- 
thropological aspects of truants, comparing their height, weight, 
vital capacity, etc., with those of normal children. 

6. Similarly make a psychological study of truants, comparing 
their various mental functions with those of normal children, tak- 
ing such functions as memory, attention, learning capacity. 

7. How should a teacher deal with truancy? How should par- 
ents deal with it? Are temporary measures, such as punishment, 
of any use? Rather, should teachers and parents try to discover 
the fundamental causes and remove the causes if possible? Can 
you cite a case in which it was apparently Impossible to remove the 
causes? 



88 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

8. Is it strange that some children should find it hard to recon- 
cile themselres to the schoolroom, when we consider how different 
the confinement, repression, restrictions and work of the school- 
room are from the primitive conditions of child life? 

9. Read the first chapter in Swift's Mind in the Making to see 
If it throws any light on the causes of truancy. The essential 
point to consider is that many of the great men of modern times 
found the work of the school poorly fitted to their needs and de- 
sires. 

10. To what extent are the schools themselves responsible for 
truancy? 

11. Suggest changes in the curriculum and methods of the school 
that would reduce the number of cases of truancy. 

12. How can the school utilize the migratory impulses of the 
children? 

13. Why do girls seldom 'play' truant? Did you ever know of 
a girl running away from school or from home? If you know of a 
case, describe the circumstances. 

14. Is there any connection between truancies and the modern 
street gang? 

15. If it is ever possible for you to do so, collect the data for 
truancies in a large city and find their distribution for the months 
and seasons. 

16. Are there more cases of truancy in the city in proportion to 
population than in the country? 

17. In a case of truancy resulting from a poorly-nourished body, 
what is the teacher to do? 

18. Can you find any evidence of truancy 'nuining in a family'? 
If so, are there any other characteristic traits in the family? 

19. Do you know of a man or woman who seems to have re- 
tained the migratory impulse? If so, write an account of the case. 

20. Collect data to show where truants go when they run away 
from school. 

21. If a large amount of time is taken to study the social and 
natural world out of doors, will there be time enough left for jn'ac- 
tice and drill in arithmetic, writing, spelling, language, literature, 
etc., in the schoolroom? 

22. Which is the more important factor in the production of the 
American 'hobo' or tramp, the migratory instinct or our social 
conditions? 

23. Suppose a boy should run away from home. How should 
the matter be treated by the parents? What do you think of the 
plan of paying no attention to the runaway for a time in the hope 
that he might have such a bitter experience that he would not care 
to repeat It? 



THE ENVIKONMENTAL INSTINCTS. 89 

The Collecting Instinct. 

1. If you ever made a collection, write an account of It. What 
did you collect? What was the motive? What did you do with the 
things collected? How many collections have you made? How old 
were you when you made them? 

2. Outline a plan of school work for the utilisation of the col- 
lecting instinct. 

3. Make a list of the things that children in the rural schools 
can collect ; make another list of the things that could be collected 
by city children. 

4. Point out the different ways in which education could proflt 
from excursions to make collections and from the material col- 
lected. Show that the gang instinct, the migratory and the collect- 
ing instincts would be called into play ; show also that the material 
and experience would be available in many subjects. 

5. Outline a plan for a school museum in a rural community. 
Include in your plan the material for the museum and its arrange- 
ment. 

6. Will a competent teacher, who has a little tact and common 
sense, have any trouble in convincing his patrons of the value of 
the kind of work suggested in the chapter? Of course, it is neces- 
sary to begin in a small way and let the value of the work become 
evident before requests are made for equipment. And equipment, 
after all, is not of very great importance. The greatest part of the 
required equipment is knowledge and enthusiasm on the part of 
the teacher. 

7. Point out the value to a community of having in the school 
building a complete collection of the insects of economic impor- 
tance in the locality, and the value of having in the library scien- 
tific literature on the life histories of these insects. Show that this 
is in harmony with the idea of education given in the first chapter. 

8. Do you think a complete collection of the birds of the locality 
would be of value? Or, rather, should the knowledge of birds come 
from field study? 

9. Do you think it would be a proper work of the school to 
organize exploring parties and expeditions for the purpose of 
getting geological, geographical, botanical and zoological knowledge 
and specimens? 

10. Would it be a loss of time for high-school boys to spend a 
week at such work, camping out in primitive fashion? Is it not 
possible that we have too narrow a view of the nature and function 
of the school? 

REFERENCES. 

TJi« Migratory Instinct. 

E. A. Kirkpatrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, p. 213; L. W. 
Kline, in Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. v, p. 381 ; A7ncrican Jour- 
nal of Psychology, Vol. x, p. 60; W. K. Brooks, in Popular 



90 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

Science Monthly, Vol. lii, p. 784 ; G. Stanley Hall, Adolescence, 
1904, Vol. ii, p. 375 ; Vol. i, p. 348 ; M. V. O'Shea, Social Devel- 
opment and Education, 1909, p. 151, a mere statement that the 
majority of pupils in school would be truants if they dared to 
be; Psychological Clinic, Vol. i, p. 21, for a description of a 
typical ease of truancy ; L. P. Ayres, in Psychological Clinic, 
Vol. iii, p. 1, on the relation of irregular attendance to poor 
work and elimination from school. 

The Collecting Instinct. 

Kirkpatrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, p. 205; G. Stanley 
Hall, Adolescence, Vol. ii, p. 484; C. F. Burk, in Pedagogical 
Seminary, Vol. vii, p. 179; E. Barnes, Studies in Education, 
1896-1902, Vol. i, p. 144. 



Chapter VIII. 
THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS— PLAY. 

1. Physiological considerations. — (1) Relation 
of muscle activity to brain activity. One-third to 
one-half of the brain surface has motor functions, 
together with other functions. Of course, in a sense, 
every part of the brain has motor functions, for 
every part is an interpolation between stimulus and 
response. But just as there are large areas more 
directly concerned with sensation, so there are large 
areas more directly concerned with the initiation of 
muscular contraction. It is significant that so large 
a part of the brain is concerned with motion. (2) 
Muscular exercise and brain activity. Of the motor 
areas above mentioned, certain parts are directly 
concerned with the movement of definite groups of 
muscles, and for these brain centers to develop, the 
exercise of these groups of muscles is necessary. If, 
for any reason, a group of muscles can not perform 
its proper function of contraction, the corresponding 
centers will not have their proper development. The 
necessity of co-ordinating muscular movement, with- 
out doubt, gave rise to the origin and development of 
these centers, in the first place, in species develop- 
ment. So, in the individual, the proper development 
of the motor centers is dependent upon muscular de- 
velopment. The biological experience of our species 

[91] 



92 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

has fixed in the organism certain necessities of indi- 
vidual development which cannot be ignored. (3) 
Loss of body parts. A person losing a limb in early 
life will lack development in that part of the brain 
controlling that limb. This, of course, is but a 
special case of tho fact just discussed, and both may 
have their truth more generally expressed in (4) 
Brain development and exercise. Not only does each 
group of muscles have its corresponding brain cen- 
ter dependent upon it, but the development of the 
brain as a whole is dependent upon the richness and 
fullness of muscular activity. The biological func- 
tion of the brain is the co-ordination of muscular 
activities ivith one another and ivith sensory stimu- 
lation, {b) Muscular adjustment. Muscular co-ordi- 
nation and adjustment are more important for brain 
development than is mere muscular strength. The 
greater the variability and complexity of muscular 
movement, the greater the demands upon the co-ordi- 
nating centers, and, therefore, the greater their de- 
velopment. It therefore follows that the kind of 
work and of play that is best for development is not 
that which calls for mere monotonous repetition of 
acts, but that which calls for change and demands 
the meeting of new situations. We shall learn later 
that mere, lifeless repetition has no place anywhere 
in education, not even in drill for the fixing of me- 
chanical operations. (6) Later psychic life related 
to early muscular activity. The extent and range of 
later psychic life are dependent, in large measure, 
upon the extent and complexity of the neuro-muscu- 
lar activity of early life ; i. e., varied and extensive 
muscular activity in early life means, other things 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — PLAT. 93 

being equal, rich psychic life later. The bright child 
is active, always doing, always contriving; the dull 
child is slow, uncertain and without initiative. Mus- 
cular activity and mentality are clearly bound up 
together and are mutually dependent. It need not be 
said that muscular activity is a cause of mentality, 
but it certainly is a necessary condition of mental 
development. That an individual may reach normal 
maturity it certainly is necessary for that individual 
to pass through a childhood and a youth of almost 
infinitely varied and increasing activity. So close is 
this interdependence that the early mental develop- 
ment of a child is much affected by the amount of at- 
tention given it, the amount of handling in infancy 
and the opportunity afforded it for play and exercise. 
(7) The will, the feelings and the muscles. Accord- 
ing to James, even feeling and will are intimately re- 
lated to muscle activity and development. A large 
part of feeling, if not all of it, is due to the muscular 
response of the body accompanying sensation and 
ideation. Many of the finer feelings seem dependent 
upon the facial and other muscles of expression. The 
crude and unskilled laborer who habitually uses but 
the larger muscles, and is incapable of fine muscular 
co-ordination, seems also incapable of experiencing 
the finer shades of emotion. And there is probably 
much truth in the popular notion of the relation of 
weak will to flabby muscles. The man who is always 
doing is the man who can do, and the man who never 
does anything is the man who can not do. Although 
what we call strong and weak wills are largely mat- 
ters of habit, there is probably some basis for them 
in the muscular system. A life of continued activity 



94 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

makes further activity possible and easy, and a life 
of inactivity tends to make activity impossible. 

These physiological facts make it certain that mus- 
cular activity and nervous organisation and develop- 
ment are closely related, and since mental develop- 
ment is dependent upon nervous development, it is 
therefore related to muscular activity. 

Definitions and theories. — (1) Psychologically, 
play can not be distinguished from other forms of 
pleasurable action. It is always pleasurable, but 
work may also be pleasurable. Play is an activity 
performed for its own sake or the pleasure accom- 
panying it, and for no other end, while work may be 
defined as an activity performed not for the sake of 
the act itself, but for the sake of some other end that 
is to grow out of the act. One plays ball for the fun 
there is in it, while one plows and tills the soil, not 
for the fun there is in the work, but for the sake of 
the grain that is to grow for his food. If one plays 
ball merely because there is felt the need of exercise, 
then playing ball is work, while, on the other hand, 
the tilling of the soil may take on the aspect of play 
if the work is done for its own sake and not for the 
fruits of the labor. From this common-sense point 
of view, then, we may say that when an action is per- 
formed for some other end than itself, it may be 
called luork; when for its own sake, play. But this 
distinction of purpose between work and play is not a 
psychological one. Psychologically, all we can say 
is that play is one of the highly pleasurable forms of 
action. "We may also say, however, that a large part 
of the play of children seems to be instinctive ; this 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — PLAY. 95 

fact throws it into the class of instinctive or inherited 
forms of action. 

(2) It is from the standpoint of biology and genetic 
psychology that play must be considered if we are to 
understand its true nature as an instinct. From this 
point of view, we find play to be an expression of the 
ripening instincts of animals, and instead of being it- 
self a special kind of instinct, it is an aspect of nearly 
all the instincts that appear in the animal's develop- 
ment. It has been called the ontogenetic rehearsal 
of the phylogenetic series. Whether play looks back- 
ward or forward is a disputed point. Hall, Johnson 
and others think the chief characteristic of play ac- 
tivity is its harking back to the past of the species* 
history. This activity may have no meaning in the 
present or future life of the child, but has its only 
rational interpretation in the fact of recapitulation. 
As a child passes to maturity, successive neuromus- 
cular co-ordinations are formed and demand for 
their growth and development, activity such as was 
common in the past, the remote past, of the species. 
Groos, who has studied and written extensively in 
this field, believes that play looks forward ; that nat- 
ural selection has led to the survival of those animals 
that play in their infancy the things that they are to 
do as adults. Tliis early acti\dty gives exercise and 
practice to the animal in doing the things that it must 
as an adult do in order to survive, and as an adult it 
performs its life activities better because of this 
early practice. It is very doubtful, if the phenomena 
of imitation and suggestion be left out of account, 
that much that we (all play has this interpretation. 
It is indeed rather ooubtful that a truly instinctive 



96 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

action is in need of practice for its perfect perform- 
ance. The fact seems to be that at least many of the 
play activities of children have their only rational 
explanation in the past life of the species, and they 
have their great significance for the present not in 
that they are direct preparation for adult activity, 
but in that they are necessities of individual develop- 
ment. We reach adulthood only after some twenty 
years of growth and development. Each step of this 
growth is conditioned very definitely by preceding 
steps and stages. The nature of each step has been 
fixed by our biological past. In other words, devel- 
oping structures demand, within certain limits, defi- 
nite activities, which, in turn, condition later devel- 
opment, and therefore later activities. He who would 
read aright the long period of infancy must read it 
in the light of the past. In this way only can we 
understand the conditions and possibilities of its 
future. 

Another theory of play that goes under the names 
of Schiller and of Spencer is known as the excess 
energy theory. This theory considers play to be an 
expression of the excess energy of the individual. It 
is probably true that this is a prominent factor of 
much play in children and especially of adults. But 
the theory does not express the wtole truth for chil- 
dren when there is no excess energy. And much 
adult play has its explanation in certain instincts, 
particularly rivalry and competition. The fact is 
that there are several forms of activity commonly 
called play. But while this is true, there is certainly 
a large class of play activity of children that has its 
only rational explanation and iiterpretation in some 
such theory as that held by Hall and Johnson. At 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — PLAY. 97 

the same time it may be true that some of these play- 
activities have their proper explanation in one or the 
other of the other theories, especially that of Schiller 
and Spencer. But the play of children considered as 
the expression of the ripening instincts, and the play 
of adults considered as the expression of certain 
strong instincts, such as competition, does justice to 
most of the facts. That pleasure is always present 
in play is doubtless due to the fact that play is the 
free expression of natural functions, and this seems 
to be true of all instinctive actions. 

(3) The view* that we have emphasized gives to 
play a great significance, because it is only by play 
of the right kind and in the right order that normal 
individual development can come. Previous consid- 
erations have shown us that activity is necessary for 
mental development. Our consideration of play 
shows that certain forms of activity, within limits, 
are necessary. Moreover, in infancy, work can not 
give sufficient activity ; besides it would be difficult to 
find for a child the right kind of work and nearly im- 
possible to provide sufficient variety for the best de- 

*For a view of the nature of play, somewhat similar to the one 
emphasized in this chapter, see L. E. Appletou, A Comparative 
Study of the Play Activities of Adnlt Savages and Civilized Chil- 
dren, 1910. Dr. Appleton thinks that the demands of developing 
structures for activity is a sufficient explanation of play. "The 
structure of the body places limitation upon the kind of reaction 
which it is possible to make. The child, being built upon the same 
general plan as his ancestors, must of necessity use the same mus- 
cles and organs and in about the same way, and in so doing both 
recapitulates the phylogenetic inheritance and anticipates his onto- 
genetic future in those plays which have been called instinctive, 
and which are especially typical of infancy and early childhood." 
This theory, to some extent, takes into account the three principles 
Involved in the three theories stated above, and doubtless accounts 
pretty well for all the facts. 



98 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

velopment, but play provides for this activity in 
abundance. The recapitulation theory emphasises 
the necessity of certain forms of play in different 
periods of growth — a definite order of plays in order 
for the individual to reach the highest development. 
It is needless to say that the actual performances of 
the child need not be the identical form of activity 
of our ancestors, but must make demands upon the 
same aspects of mind and body. But quite apart 
from all theories of the meaning of play, there can 
be no question of its great significance for individual 
development, nor can there be any question that there 
is a proper sequence of plays best adapted to devel- 
opment. Indeed, it is the empirical facts that sup- 
port the recapitulation theory, which is merely an 
attempt to put meaning into the facts. 

Development of the play instinct. — In order to 
understand the development of the play activities we 
have only to consider the development of the child. 
For our purposes the life of the child may be divided 
into three periods: (1) infancy, (2) childhood and 
(3) youth, and each of these periods may be further 
divided into an earlier and later period. Infancy is 
the first five or six years of life, and is the time dur- 
ing which the child comes into possession of its pow- 
ers. At birth it is helpless, undeveloped and exer- 
cises but few of its future functions. Everything 
must be done for it or it dies. In the first half-dozen 
years of life it acquires the power of locomotion and 
of speech; its senses develop and its brain rapidly 
grows to nearly its full size. By the end of this 
period it has learned a world and acquired a fairly 
definite system of responses to this world. This is 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — PLAY. 99 

the great period of physical growth and adjustment, 
and everything looking to the child's welfare should 
merely provide for healthy growth. Most of the indi- 
vidualistic instincts come into function, and habits 
are formed to meet the varied situations of early life. 
This is pre-eminently an animal period of life. Rea- 
son is very crude even in the later years of the 
period — a matter of association merely. The period 
is most accurately characterised as one of intense 
activity. The senses are taking in a virgin world, 
and the muscles are trying this world on every side. 
Life now is all play. Each awakening impulse must 
have expression, every organ of sense must function. 
The world must be tried, the body must be tested. 
The legs must kick, the hands must pull and poimd 
and scratch, the mouth must bite. The animal child 
becomes a human being. This life and this play are 
simple, and the toys and playthings of the child now 
should be simple — mere sticks to pound with, bright 
objects, balls, blocks, sand piles and boxes. The toy 
is the child's means of interpreting and testing the 
world. "With it, he learns the properties of matter 
and forces and provides stimuli for his sense organs. 
The very first play is largely a matter of experiment- 
ing with the sense organs and other bodily organs ; 
the child learns to use himself, learns the extent of 
his powers. And in the later years of the period the 
same activity continues and becomes more vigorous 
and extensive. The activities are extended to the 
fields and woods and take in a much larger surround- 
ing ; the child runs, climbs, jumps, and examines and 
explores every corner of his environment, becomes 
acquainted in the plant and animal world, and makes 



100 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

collections. But all this play is informal, and the 
child cares little for formal, organised games such as 
the kindergarten provides. Play is essentially indi- 
vidualistic, and the child cares only to discover the 
world and to appropriate it to his own use. In these 
early years play is the natural teacher through which 
the child learns the world, on the one hand, and comes 
into his powers and capacities, on the other. There 
could be no development without it; it is the child's 
life and it brings the child to maturity. Infancy and 
childhood without play are inconceivable. 

The second period, covering about six years, is 
one of fair stability, save for its beginning and end, 
which are transition periods, — transition from in- 
fancy to childhood and from childhood to youth, — 
but there are a few years of fair stability, of a fair 
adjustment to the world. At its beginning the first 
set of teeth goes and the new set comes in, the brain 
attains its full growth about eight, then for some 
four years the child is a fairly complete and perfect 
individual and meets his environment in a fairly set- 
tled way, till a new birth and a new life come with 
the dawn of adolescence. In this period play should 
provide much and violent exercise, and must satisfy 
a great variety of interests. The chief games are 
games of chase that make demands upon the large 
muscles and limbs. The child now naturally lives the 
life of a savage, and is a fisherman, hunter, trapper 
and warrior, and the plays and games of the period 
are such as call forth these primitive activities. 
Among the games mentioned by Johnson for this 
period are : hide and seek, puss in the corner, hawk 
and chicken, tag, dare base, black man, huntsman. 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS PLAY. 101 

baseball, archery, jump rope, blind man's buff, bean 
bag, guessing games, dancing and nature plays and 
interests. In the later years of the period, swim- 
ming, skating, dramatic and imitative plays, throw- 
ing, shooting, shinney, football and wrestling in addi- 
tion to most of those just named for the earlier years. 

Third Stage. Adolescence. — With the coming of 
adolescence, our boy and girl pass to adulthood. The 
social instincts now become prominent. Each indi- 
vidual now tests his powers and finds his place; 
therefore games of competition are numerous, but 
at the same time group games that demand co-opera- 
tion also grow in number and interest. Many of the 
games and interests of the preceding years are con- 
tinued in this period, with increasing prominence of 
the vigorous ones and the out-of-door and nature 
interests. In this period, as in the preceding, play 
gives expression to construction, imitation, inquisi- 
tiveness, curiosity, the gang instinct, and so on. The 
play spirit appears in nature work, gardening, col- 
lecting, getting acquainted with wood and stream, 
i. e., in exploration, adventure, hunting and fishing. 
All these activities are essentially play and provide 
for many aspects of human nature, — the migrating, 
collecting, fighting instincts and perhaps others be- 
ing allowed to function. Dancing should be a form 
of play in all the periods, and for this purpose the 
folk dances and rhythmic group games should be re- 
vived, and dancing should be one of the free plays 
of the child rather than a debauched and degenerated 
social performance of adults. 

Play and moral character. — Play, especially in the 
later group games, is a great moral force. Through 



102 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

these games the child learns to co-operate, he finds 
himself by learning where he is weak and where 
strong. Sympathy develops and all the social fac- 
tors. The games of youth are therefore a great 
socialising force. In them the boy learns 'team 
work' ; he learns to subordinate himself to the group. 
The games of youth are an excellent preparation for 
citizenship in a democracy. They should, and under 
proper conditions do, develop bravery, courage, en- 
durance, steadiness and faithfulness. 

The pedagogy of play. — The child will play to the 
point of exhaustion ; endure hardship and pain with- 
out murmur. We have said that most play of chil- 
dren is the expression of awakening instincts, and 
that the instincts are the only aspects of child life to 
which the teacher can appeal. It must therefore fol- 
low that play has most intimate relations to educa- 
tion. To illustrate : Much of the early work of edu- 
cating children consists in drill, in fixing certain 
responses that we think desirable. Now, if these 
responses can be made part of a game, can become 
play, a very desirable end is then easily attained, and 
we shall see later how necessary it is to make a 
proper appeal to instincts, for unless drill is inter- 
esting and on a high level of attention it has little 
value. To become interesting it must appeal strongly 
to some instinct, — in a word, must become play. In 
drill work, then, in automatising the formal proc- 
esses, is a large and important field where play can 
be of great service to education. In this sphere play 
is a mould in which the school activities can be fitted ; 
is an avenue, for the expression of child life, through 
which development comes. The wise teacher is he 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — PLAY. 103 

who can find in the child's nature a motive for its 
work, and when tliis is found the child will do any- 
thing; without it, nothing worth while. No activity 
that is not the expression of some part of child- 
nature can be a part of education. And those activi- 
ties that are most potent in education are either play 
or approach plaj^ in spirit. It is sometimes said that 
such an educational doctrine as this is dangerous, 
that it means the making of *' mollycoddles." But 
this can not be true. It is only a misapplication of 
the doctrine that does this. Of course, a child must 
learn that life is serious, that there are duties to be 
performed, that there is hard work to be done by 
every one who amounts to anything in this world, 
and part of a child's training should be a prepara- 
tion for attacking difficult tasks and sticking to them 
till they are finished. But a child will get this train- 
ing best when he is moved by some strong inward 
motive rather than by outward compulsion. Chil- 
dren may be driven by fear to do unpleasant things, 
but if this is against their will it gives little training 
in doing unpleasant things of their own will. The 
greatest work is always done by him whose heart is 
in his work. The greatest achievements will always 
be those that come from the love of work, and when 
work itself is loved it is no longer work, but play. 
The best work will always be done when the pressure 
is from within, when the organism is nearest to its 
true, natural functioning, and this is the sort of ac- 
tivity that we call play. It must not be thought, 
however, that the school room is to be turned over 
to the whims of the children. On the contrary, it 
should always have as its guide and head a person 



104 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

of vigor and maturity. This person can, however, 
bring the children to the highest attainments and 
development if he make proper demands on native 
instincts and interests. 

Play of adults. — The play of adults is not essen- 
tially different from that of children. It is in the 
adult, as in the child, the expression of old and funda- 
mental impulses. The play activity of adults is a 
sort of mimic world that echoes the life activities of 
bygone ages ; it is a faint revival of man's older self, 
and therefore the truest expression of his real self 
stripped of the latter day accretion. This activity 
has for him an intrinsic pleasure not dependent upon 
any other results. Some form of competition, or 
other old individual instinct, is usually involved. 
Modern man has gone mad. He thinks he can spend 
his life in a vain pursuit of illusory wealth and sup- 
press the functioning of his older, and therefore most 
real, self. He forgets his wife, he forgets his chil- 
dren, he forgets to play. He grows old before his 
time ; he is dead long before he ceases to walk aroimd 
before his fellows. We must never give up playing. 
If we continue to play and to associate with children 
and youth, it will keep us young and keep joy in our 
hearts. We must revive the social customs of ancient 
Greece. It is no accident that the Greeks, the great- 
est of all men, played most of all men. The annual 
festivals and the Olympiads, bringing all Greece to- 
gether in mental and physical play, had much to do 
with her glory. Even our universities are forgetting 
their function, for they do not teach their students to 
play. A football * eleven' and a baseball 'nine' about 
exhaust their capacity, although there are thousands 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — PLAY. 105 

of students in attendance. Long walks and excur- 
sions and games should be part of the daily life of 
every student. But instead of this, the author finds 
some of his students so degenerate physically that a 
few extra tasks send them to the hospital. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOB FITRTHEB STUDY. 

1. Make out a complete list of the games and plays that you 
engaged in as a child and youth. Indicate those that you liked 
most, and point out the aspect of the game or play that seemed to 
be the source of pleasure. Do you find a development or succession 
in the plays? Were there plays that you liked very much at one 
time, and later did not care for? Interpret what you find. 

2. What theory or theories best account for the facts of your 
own play experience? Do you find some facts supporting each of 
the theories? 

3. Give the experience that you have had as a teacher in. con- 
trolling play on the school grounds ; if not a teacher, give your 
experience as a pupil. 

4. Give data showing the good effects of the proper kind of adult 
control of the play of children ; give illustrations showing the bad 
effects of the wrong sort of control. 

5. What is your experience with high-school athletics? What 
is there good and what bad in them as now conducted? Should 
high schools have teams of various kinds and play neighboring 
teams? What are the facts that bear upon this question? 

6. Can you cite a case showing that muscle development is not 
necessary for brain development? Be sure of your facts, and be 
careful in taking the statements of biographers concerning the 
early life of eminent men. As a rule, little is known of the early 
life of great men. 

7. How does the farm compare with the city in supplying facili- 
ties for activity? Compare the conditions and the results of the 
two types of environment. 

8. Can artificial and mechanical indoor activities completely 
take the place of outdoor play? What seems to be the difference? 

9. Carefullv collect statistics of school children for the purpose 
of determining differences in regard to play activities. For ex- 
ample make a studv of 50 children that do not care to play and that 
do not take much exercise, and compare them with 50 other chil- 
dren that like play and that take abundant exercise. What con- 
clusions come from your study? 

10 Compare the Terr poorest pupils in a schoolroom with the 
tery best in regard to their play and work activities. 
il Is play activity necessary for development, or will work 



106 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

activity do just as well? Discuss every aspect of the question. 
Take especial account of the feeling aspect of work and play. 

12. Is it natural for older people to care less for play than do 
children? Do you think it advisable for adults in America to play 
more than they now do? Why? 

13. What do you think of football and baseball as forms of 
activity for high-school boys? 

14. Do you think it advisable for boys and girls to play together 
throughout childhood and youth? What are the facts to be con- 
sidered here? 

15. Compare girls that like outdoor play and vigorous exei'cise, 
including play with boys, with girls that do not play with boys ana 
do not care much for vigorous play — the girls that do their hair 
up on the top of their heads and consider themselves women. 

16. Rank the pupils of a school room from the best to the poor- 
est in school studies. What do you find in regard to the play of 
the two halves of the group? 

17. Spend a day watching children play, comparing the play of 
children of different ages. What differences do you find as to what 
they play and the manner of playing? 

18. Is there any danger that children that play a great deal will 
come to like play only and dislike work? 

19. Is a teacher to try to make play out of everything? Should 
a teacher make a sharp distinction between play and work? Why? 

20. If a child is deprived of the proper amount and variety of 
play as a child, is it possible to make up for this later in life? 

21. Show that what is play for one may be work for another, 
considering singing, playing musical instruments, mathematics, etc. 

22. In what phase of school work is play most applicable? 
Show how it may be used in various studies. 

23. Should teachers act as police on the playground, or should 
they take part in the plays and enter into the spirit of the pupils? 
Why? 

24. How sliould a teacher deal with a child that does not care 
for play, but wishes to sit around and read all the time? 

25. Sometimes young children enjoy work better than older 
children. Why is this? 

26. Which has played the greater part in the achievements cf 
man, the play spirit and mere curiosity, or necessity? Collect facts 
for the answer of this question. 

REFEBENCES. 

Kirkpatrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, p. 147; G. Stanley 
Hall, Adolescence, Ch. iii; Youth, Ch. vi ; H. H. Donaldson, The 
Groicth of the Brain, Ch. xviii ; J. 'SI. Taylor, Motor Education for 
the Child, in Popular Science Monthly, Vol. Ixxviii, p. 268; A. F. 
Chamberlain, The Child, 1901, Ch. ii, an excellent chapter ; L. H. 
Gulick, The Psychological, Pedagogical and Religious Aspects of 
Chroup Games, In Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. vi, p. 135 ; Some Psy- 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — PLAY. 107 

cJiical Aspects of Muscular Exercise, in Popular Science Monthly, 
Vol. liii, p. 793 ; The Healthful Art of Dancing, 1910 ; The Efficient 
Life, 1907; G. E. Johnson, Education by Plays and Games, 1907; K. 
Groos, The Play of Animals, 1898 ; The Play of Man, 1901 ; W. P. 
Bowen, The Mechanics of Bodily Exercise, 1909; N. B. Lamkin, 
Play: Its Value and Fifty Games, 1907 ; E. B. Mero, American Play- 
grounds, 1908; A, Leland, Playground Technique and Playcraft, 
1909; L. E. Appleton, A Comparative Study of the Play Activities 
of Adult Savages and Civilised Children, 1910; J. W. Dinsmore, 
Teaching a District School, tcith a Supplement on Playtime, 1910; 
M. B. Newton, Graded Games and Rhythmic Exercises, 1909; G. 
Sisson, Children's Play, in Barnes' Studies in Education, Vol, i, p. 
171 ; H. D. Sheldon, Institutional Activities of American Children, 
in American Journal of Psych., Vol. ix, p. 425 ; J. H. Chase, Street 
Games of New York City, in Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. xii, p. 503 ; 
G. Dudley and F. A. Kellor, Athletic Games for Women, 1909; L. 
Beard and A. B. Beard, Recreations for Girls, 1908; C. W. Cramp- 
ton, The Folk Dance Book, 1909; C. Crawford, Folic Dances and 
Games, 1908 ; B. R. Parsons, Plays and Games, 1909. 



Chaptee IX. 
THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS— IMITATION. 

Description and definition. — The phenomenon of 
imitation is but a special manifestation of a funda- 
mental principle of organic matter, i. e., the prin- 
ciple of stimulus going over into response; in the 
higher animals, perception going over into action. 
Stimulus has no meaning apart from response ; sen- 
sation has no meaning apart from action. The only 
reason that one should have sensation is that one 
may be able to respond to the environment. In the 
case of imitative movements, the response is more or 
less like the stimulus, more or less like the source of 
sensation calling it forth. Natural selection has de- 
veloped this form of action, just as it has developed 
all other inherited forms. There is no reason in 
nature why any sort of resi)onse should not be 
coupled with any sort of stimulus. That a large 
number of the responses of children reproduce the 
stimuli of the environment, i. e., are imitative, is a 
matter of heredity, and therefore this particular 
form of activity is considered to be instinctive. Ow- 
ing to the peculiar circular nature of imitative action, 
Baldwin defines it as that reaction that tends to main- 
tain or reyeat its own stimulating process. This is 
especially evident in the imitation of sounds. The 
young child will repeat the same sound over and over 
again for many minutes at a time, each sound being 

[108] 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — IMITATION. 109 

the stimulus for the production of the next one. But 
it makes no difference what the sensory source of the 
perception may be — although it is usually sight or 
sound — the perception of the movement calls forth 
the same sort of movement ; there is a resemblance 
between stimulus and response, and therefore in 
many cases the response may serve as a new stimulus 
to call forth a similar response. The continuation of 
the circular process is not, however, necessary to this 
form of action, nor does it always take place. The 
essential characteristic that differentiates this form 
of inherited response is just this resemblance be- 
tween the animal's response and the objective means 
of calling it forth. A chicken hears a hawk and darts 
under cover. This is a matter of heredity, of the 
individualistic instinct of fear. A child sees an older 
person put on a hat ; it then takes a hat and puts it 
on its own head. This is also a matter of heredity; 
we say it is due to the instinct of imitation. 

Psychological explanation. — The phenomenon of 
imitation is easily understood when we recall the fact 
that the idea of a movement tends to call forth the 
movement, and will usually do so unless there is some 
inhibiting idea or sensory stimulus. In the early 
years of life the connection between idea and re- 
sponse is unusually close and direct; the lesson of 
inactivity is not yet learned. The perception of 
movement functions immediately to call forth a simi- 
lar movement, or a movement that serves to produce 
the same effect for sensation. 

Imitation in lower animals. — Among the lower ani- 
mals, particularly below the primates, there is little 
imitation. Their acts are the inherited responses 



110 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

that fit all the particular phases of the environment, 
or the result of the modification of these responses 
by experience. Their responses are definite and im- 
mediate. It has not been necessary for these animals 
to imitate in order to get on in the world. The vc ry 
character of their mentality is to some extent a Lar 
to the calling forth of similar responses by the per- 
ception of a movement. They do not seem to have 
free ideas which are essential to many forms of imi- 
tation. The perception of a movement made by an- 
other being has not, in many cases, developed into 
the character of a stimulus for the same kind of 
movement or movement ])roducing the same sensory 
effect. Moreover, even if psychologically possible, 
imitation is not physically so, for not many animals 
live with their parents long enough to learn much 
from them by imitation, and therefore their re- 
sjjonses must be ready made and definite. Finally, 
experiments prove that the animals below man do 
not learn much by imitation ; possibly only the very 
highest can learn at all in this way. As Spalding 
points out, chickens may live continually with tur- 
keys, but do not learn the more efficient turkey 
method of catching flies. In certain animals of a 
social nature natural selection has developed a sort 
of reflex imitation. The fact is that imitation is pre- 
eminently a phenomenon of infancy and infancy is 
essentially a human characteristic. Only the young 
of the human race have a long period of helplessness, 
during which the primitive instincts are moulded and 
modified into permanent life-adjustments. Only a 
long period of plastic infancy could make it possible 
for imitation to play an important role in develop- 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS IMITATION. Ill 

ment. Therefore, infancy and imitation are related 
facts, and with the prolonging of human infancy, 
together with the fact that this infancy is spent with 
the parents in a family group, imitation has come 
to be, perhaps, the most important factor in acquire- 
ment of permanent adjustments. 

Function and importance of imitation. — (1) As a 
means of adaptation. Normally the child lives with 
its parents for at least one-fourth of its life, and sees 
done practically all the things that it will ever have 
to do. Nature has so developed it that the sight of 
an act performed by the parents or elders serves as 
a stimulus for doing the same thing, and this is the 
basis of most that the child learns to do. Therefore 
imitation becomes of enormous importance not only 
during the period of development, but all through 
life ; it is one of the means by which every new indi- 
vidual becomes adapted or adjusted. (2) As a means 
of interpretation. Royce has pointed out that imita- 
tion is a means of interpretation, serving to interpret 
the acts of another. It is only by repeating, ourselves, 
the acts of another that we can Imow how the other 
person feels or what his purpose is. Observation 
shows that there is usually a tendency to do what ore 
sees another do, and particularly is this true in the 
case of the young. This fact is the secret of learning 
elocution, music, and all the arts of expression. We 
must do another person's act and say his words; 
then we have his point of view. To some extent wo 
become the other person. Therefore, imitation 
serves the double purpose of adaptation and inter- 
pretation. 

Development of imitation. — Imitation begins in 



112 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

the latter part of the child's first year as mere sen- 
sory responses, made for the pleasure only, with no 
conscious end in view. But its development is rapid, 
and it performs a larger and larger function, till in 
the second year it becomes purposive; that is, the 
child tries to accomplish what the elder person does, 
by using the same means. At first, then, imitation is 
largely blind and reflex; the cliild immediately and 
directly does what he sees done. Then there comes 
a gradual growth in complexity, due in part to the 
general mental development, from perceptual to 
ideational, from crude reproductions of the activity 
and life about, to elaborate and exact reproductions 
of tliis life and activity. In early imitation the child 
is satisfied with imperfect representations of the life 
and activity about, but later he tries to reproduce 
the imitated activities with much exactness as to set- 
ting and all the details. Moreover, the social element 
enters and serves to extend the field of imitation. 
Even a brief study of children will afford abundant 
illustration of the evolution of imitation in the indi- 
vidual. For example: a straight stick will at first 
suffice for a horse, and performs the functions of a 
horse in the child's play, but as the child grows older 
he tries to make his play horse approach nearer and 
nearer to the likeness of a real horse. Also, in the 
imitation of adult social activities, the development 
is plain : at first in a play tea party the crudest rep- 
resentations will suffice, but when the child grows 
older the dishes and food and all the attendant cir- 
cumstances must approximate those which are 
proper in a tea party of adults. 
Education and imitation. — {1) Basis of education. 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — IMITATION. 113 

Imitation, with imitative play, performs an important 
function in education, and with the possible exception 
of play is by far the most important single factor. 
Let us, for example, consider the boy on the farm. 
He learns how to harness horses, hitch them up, feed 
them, how to plow and do all the other things that are 
done on the farm, including the manipulation of farm 
tools and machinery, chiefly by imitation. In like 
manner, the girl in the home learns how to cook and 
sew and perform the various duties about the house 
chiefly by imitation. We learn to speak our native 
tongue almost entirely by imitation, and there is con- 
sequently a close resemblance between the speech of 
parent and child. Mechanics and even professional 
men learn their trades and professions largely by 
imitation. In the school room, too, imitation rightly 
plays an important role: in learning methods of 
solving problems, in grammar and language, in writ- 
ing, drawing, singing and in reading, — in everything 
that has an expression or doing side, — it is an impor- 
tant factor. Especially is it important in making a 
beginning, in acquiring the rudiments of a subject. 
At first, we can only imitate; later we can have a 
little originality. In our study of habits we shall see 
how important imitation is. Whenever a child has 
to learn and perfect a new skilful act, it is economical 
for the teacher to demonstrate the precise nature of 
the act, showing the child the exact steps of the 
process. Teachers do not sufficiently realise how 
completely imitative are the acts of the child and how 
little of reason and of thought there is in them. The 
child has this capacity for learning and adjustment 
long before reason can function to any great extent, 



114 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

and instead of wasting time trying to appeal to rea- 
son when there is no reason, the teacher should avail 
himself of this capacity for learning that functions 
from the early months of childhood. Moreover, there 
is no need for reason in the great portion of early 
adjustments, for they are in most part merely a 
mechanical adjustment to our physical and social 
surroundings, those that natural selection has sifted 
out as necessary for our social life, and all that is 
required is that the child should come as soon as pos- 
sible into this social heritage. "Why should the child 
reason in these matters'? Even if our adjustments 
are not the best possible, the child is certainly not 
able to sit as a critic in the matter and choose his 
course of action. He must more or less blindly take 
on such forms of adjustment as are already in exist- 
ence. In fact, for the young, the only other mode of 
learning that can function much is the trial and suc- 
cess method, and the latter is not usually so econom- 
ical as the former, though, of course, economy is not 
always the most important thing to consider. Both 
of these methods are functioning from the very be- 
ginning. The trial and success method serves to cor- 
rect what might be the extreme results of learning 
by imitation. Certainly in the acquirement of any 
skill imitation is often the most important factor. 
Correct speech is a matter of example and imitation 
much more than of rules and precepts; so also are 
manners and morals. Our children pay much more 
attention to what we do than to what we say. Imita- 
tion has much to do with order and discipline in the 
school room. The cross and ugly-tempered teacher 
is likely to have a cross and ugly school. In learning 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — IMITATION. 115 

to read, perhaps as much as anywhere else, the value 
of imitation is apparent. A child should hear much 
good reading both at home and at school, and fortu- 
nate is the child whose mother and teacher are good 
readers. A mother should read to her children from 
the time when they are able to sit on her knee and 
listen, and when the children are older and go to 
school the teacher should read much, very much, to 
them. If the teacher is not a good reader and a good 
story-teller, then he should not be a teacher. 

(2) Ow social inheritance. Imitation is the means 
by which we come into our social heritage. Our be- 
liefs, customs, morals, religion, traditions, language, 
social relations, as we have already seen, come in 
large measure through imitation. Since without this 
social heritage we should not rise above primitive, 
uncivilised, savage life, the significance of imitation 
is immediately apparent, and it is seen that as a 
means of transmitting the acquirements of civilisa- 
tion it becomes one of the most important factors of 
early education. The forms and moulds of civilised 
life, the more or less mechanical and automatic re- 
sponses that we have as members of society, we take 
on unconsciously by imitating those about us, as we 
also take on an habitual attitude toward social insti- 
tutions. Imitation is the mechanism of social hered- 
ity, and it is social heredity that constitutes our civi- 
lisation. 

(3) As a means of interpretation, imitation has 
almost as important educational significance. To 
illustrate: in the study of literature, history and the 
manners and customs of different peoples, dramatic 
imitation becomes a key to unlock what would other- 



116 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

wise remain hidden, and from the first grade to the 
twelfth the teacher should make use of this means of 
interpreting the life of other people and of other 
times. By acting out and reproducing a piece of 
literature or historical event the pupil makes it real, 
makes it live again, while otherwise it usually re- 
mains a dead, unreal fact. Through dramatisation 
the fact really comes within the pupil's experience. 
This point of view emphasises the doing aspect of 
education. What the child does is no longer some- 
thing foreign, but becomes a part of the child. The 
pupil that has acted Miles Standish, or Ilamlet, or 
Caesar, or Jupiter, has a new relation to these char- 
acters, for in a sense he has been Hamlet, Standish, 
Caesar or Jupiter. The theater may some day be an 
important part of the school, a place for dance and 
song and play, a place where life is presented to the 
children, and where they give expression to their own 
ideas and conceptions of life, a place where the past 
and present meet, where the past becomes the pres- 
ent through the actions of the children. 

School management and imitation. — The phe- 
nomena of imitation have an important bearing on 
school management. (1) The teacher. The character 
and temperament of the teacher are important, even 
his looks and health and manners. The teacher's 
attitude and enthusiasm toward the different studies 
are contagious and readily affect the children, while 
if the teacher dislike a subject and shows an aver- 
sion to it, the pupils reflect this attitude. The 
teacher's scholarship and intellectual integrity 
should be high and unimpeachable; his earnestness 
and accuracy in his work, his regard for truth, can 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — IMITATION. 117 

not be too great. And if he is to do his work well 
and stand the great strain of his profession, he must 
be a man of good health and strong body ; his sense 
organs and all other important organs of his body 
should have the very highest functional capacity. 
He should have no defects or deformities. The men 
that society selects for the teachers of the young 
should be the highest types physically and mentally 
that the race affords. Not only must they be free 
from physical defects, but must have no oddities or 
peculiarities of manner or of speech. In these mat- 
ters they should be tj^pical of their time and the 
people among whom they work. It is a common- 
place, but none the less true, that the school reflects 
the teacher. (2) The children. The small minority 
of children that are deformed, defective and deficient, 
with nervous disorders, defects of speech, incor- 
rigibles, should be removed from the normal ma- 
jority for the good of all, not only of the normal chil- 
dren, but for their own best good. There is just as 
much reason for removing them as there is for re- 
moving from the school those children that have con- 
tagious diseases ; for, on account of imitation, these 
characteristics are contagious and affect the whole 
school. Through imitation — largely reflex — these 
affections spread and demoralise the whole school. 
One bad, disorderly boy can ruin a whole day's work 
at school, sometimes a whole term's work. Stam- 
mering, stuttering and other nervous disorders are 
taken up by many of the children in a room. Even 
poor work and bad scholarship are contagious. There- 
fore there is abundant reason for segregating those 
children that deviate considerably from the normal. 



118 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

Not only is this to be recommended for the good of 
those normal children that would be badly affected 
by their influence, but it should be done in order to 
supply the proper sort of training for those that 
deviate. In the graded schools this is practicable 
and is already successfully done, but in the rural 
schools it does not seem to be practicable without 
sending the defective child away from his home, and 
this does not seem advisable unless the defect is 
extreme, such as deafness, blindness or other de- 
fect that renders him unfit to receive training from 
the ordinary teacher. 

Contrary suggestion. — An interesting phenomenon 
of imitation is that of contrary suggestion. This 
phenomenon is in perfect harmony with the other 
facts of imitation, and is merely a matter of the idea 
of an act calling forth the act. However, there may 
sometimes be another element involved which is 
probably a manifestation of the fighting instinct, 
possibly of the instinct of curiosity. In certain chil- 
dren, and perhaps sometimes in the early life of all 
children, the suggestion of some line of action serves 
to call forth a contrary action. If the child is told 
to eat a certain kind of food, then he will not eat it, 
but if he be told not to eat it, he will eat it. It is 
therefore a dangerous procedure to show bad ex- 
amples and call the attention of children to what they 
should not do or should not be. The danger lies in 
the fact that the example serves as a stimulus, in 
accordance with the general law of imitation, to call 
forth the action in question, and this stimulus is 
stronger than the inhibiting force of the teacher's 
or parent's warning not to do the thing in question. 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — IMITATION. 119 

No general rule, however, can be laid down to cover 
this matter; much depends on the manner in which 
the example is shown and on the temperament of the 
children in question. Parents ought soon to know how 
to deal with their own children in this regard, but 
a teacher can not know the children so well, and, 
besides, they are widely different. Teachers often 
bring much trouble upon themselves by forbidding 
children to do things that they might never think of 
doing if they were not suggested to them. A case that 
once was brought to the author's attention will illus- 
trate the point : A new teacher came into a country 
district and on the first day told the boys that they 
must not climb on top of a shed that stood in the 
school yard. They had never in all the years that the 
shed had been there thought of getting on top of it, 
but now, before the end of the day, they all got up 
there and tore the shed down. It seems that the for- 
bidding of a certain act sometimes not only calls 
especial attention to the act, but arouses the fighting 
spirit of the child and serves as a tantalizing stimu- 
lus which can hardly be resisted. 

Children's ideals. — Our consideration of imitation 
leads us to the general question of children's ideals. 
There are in general three sources for these ideals : 
(1) the characters of literature, (2) the characters of 
history, and (3) living characters which the child 
may know personally or through his reading. The 
influence of the characters of the different groups is 
different for dif/erent children and in different 
periods of the life of the same child. Many experi- 
mental and statistical studies have been made to 
Jearn the facts concerning the ideals of children and 



120 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

their development. Some important results have 
come out of the studies. Perhaps the most important 
is this : The sort of character of either literature or 
history that appeals to a child as a model for imita- 
tion depends on the stage of development of the 
child. Throughout childhood and youth, however, 
the character that appeals to boys especially is the 
character of action, — the warrior, the hunter, 
the Indian fighter, the fisherman, the man of 
the woods. The boy cares little for the man 
of mere static or negative goodness. Therefore 
the literature that should be brought to the 
attention of boys is that which presents to them 
a sturdy life of vigor and endurance. The he- 
roes of history should be familiar to every boy 
almost before he can read. On his mother's knee the 
American boy should hear of Washington, Franklin, 
Lincoln, and all the great generals and sailors that 
have made our country's history. Deeds of valor 
and heroism, especially deeds of patriotism, should 
be made familiar to every child. The story of the 
early pioneers and all the stirring events of our 
country's early history should be told to the young 
children. In their early years these characters have 
an influence on them that they will not have later. 

In the child's own surroundings it is the active and 
vigorous that appeals to him. He likes to watch the 
carpenter, the bricklayer, the ditch-digger, the black- 
smith, — any one who is achieving something. It is 
well that this is so, and we should provide the means 
for the child to imitate these workmen, — means in 
the form of carpenters' tools and work bench and 
gardens. As children grow older the field from which 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — IMITATION. 121 

they choose their ideals is extended to all time and 
all countries. Parents and teachers in guiding the 
reading for children should always have the matter 
of ideals in mind, and should often discuss with the 
children the nature of the characters of their reading 
and draw from them their ideas and conclusions, 
without too much preaching. It should be one of the 
main functions of the high school to unlock the great 
treasures of literature for the pupils, and it has not 
done its duty if it allows a child to leave school with- 
out being familiar with Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and 
all the greatest creations of literary art. 

The facts of imitation make it clear that teachers, 
particularly the teachers of boys, should be strong, 
vigorous men ; vigorous and manly in mind as well as 
in body; not weakly, lazy, effeminate, insipid young 
men, but men of maturity, intensely patriotic and full 
of our country's history and literature. Girls might 
very well have such teachers, too, but not altogether. 
Investigation reveals the curious fact that girls 
usually choose male ideals, and this is not fortunate 
nor auspicious for our future. It may be all right 
for the girl in her early years to have about the same 
ideals as the boys, but certainly later her models 
should be the world's great women, and this includes 
her own faithful mother and grandmother, with 
their lives of honest toil and good old-fashioned ways 
and notions of work and morals and true integrity. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR FtTRTHER STUDY. 

1. (iive several Illustrations to show that imitation functioni 
to interpret the environment and to adapt the individual to th* 
environment. 

2. Carefully obs«»rv€ children of different ages, noting and com- 



122 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

paring their imitative acts. How early in the child's life does the 
first imitative act appear? 

3. Have you ever observed imitation in domestic animals? If 
so, make an accurate report of it. 

4. Make out a list of acts that you have learned by imitation. 
How does it compare with the things that you have learned to do 
in other ways? 

5. Point out the part played by imitation in learning arithmetic, 
reading, writing, spelling, language, style in composition, history, 
geography, manners and morals, and in one's religion and politics. 
State whether your religion is the same as that of your parents. 

6. Compare the imitative activities of children of various ages 
to determine what aspect of the life about them they imitate. Try 
to trace out the development of imitation from childhood to late 
adolescence from your own observation. 

7. Make out a list of all the teachers you had in the public 
school, and indicate to what extent you imitated each, and what 
aspect of their lives you imitated. Were there any that you en- 
deavored especially not to imitate? 

8. Can you cite cases in which a bad parent or teacher was the 
cause of children leading an upright life ; that is, a case in which a 
bad example was the cause of good action? If there are such cases, 
how can they be explained? 

9. If you have been a teacher, to what extent did you imitate 
in the early part of your teaching? 

10. Has some older person — parent, teacher or friend — had a 
profound influence on your life? If so, write an account of it, 
giving details as to the nature of the person and the amount and 
kind of influence. 

11. Discuss coeducation from the point of view of imitation. 
Treat of elementary, high school and college education. 

12. Have you ever had an ideal in history or literature that has 
influenced your life ? Who was the person or character, and what 
the influence? 

13. Compare the imitative activities of country children with 
those of city children. Does this give any indication of the im- 
portance of imitation as a means of adaptation? Does it throw 
any light on the importance of environment in the life of a child? 

14. Show that imitation is a great factor in moral training. 

15. Make a careful comparison of imitation, as a factor in 
learning and development, with all other factors. 

16. When you have the opportunity as a teacher, make a study 
of the ideals of children along the lines suggested by the studies 
of Barnes, as indicated in the second volume of the Studies in 
Education. (See references.) 

17. Give data from your own experience or observation to show 
the great Importance of ideals in adolescence. 

18. Cite cases showing the effects of the attitude of a teacher 
toward studies; his attitude toward important principles of life 
and action. 



THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS — IMITATION. 123 

19. How can the very highest type of man be secxired for the 
teaching profession? Read Cattell's article on The School and the 
Family, in Popular Science Monthly, Vol. Ixxiv, p. 84. Do you think 
it possible for such teachers as he indicates to be secured for all 
our schools? Should we werk toward some such ideal? What 
should be the first steps toward it? 

20. A student in one of the author's classes once reported that In 
a teachers' examination which he had just attended nearly all the 
applicants for certificates cheated. Why did they do it? Should 
they be allowed to teach children? If a teacher is dishonest in 
getting his license to teach, is he likely to be an honest and truthful 
teacher? 

21. Should officials who examine teachers be as careful about 
the character of the applicant as about his scholarship? 

22. Show fully the use that can be made of dramatisation in 
the different grades and the different subjects. Point out espe- 
cially how it can be a means of interpreting the life of other 
countries and other times. 

befehences. 

Kirkpatrlck, Fundamentals of Child Study, Ch. viii ; Oenetio 
Psychology, 1909, p. 124; M. V. O'Shea. Social Development and 
Education, 1909, Ch. xvii ; J. Royce, Psychological Review, Vol. il, 
p. 217; Century, Vol. xlviii. p. 137; R. Steel. Imitation, 1910; A. E. 
Tanner, The Child, 1904, Ch. xv ; J. M. Baldwin, Mental Develop- 
ment, Methods and Processes, 1900, Chs. vi, ix, x, xl and xii ; C. 
Frear, Ped. Sem., Vol. iv. p. 382 ; E. M. Haskell. Ped. Sem., Vol. iii, 
p. 30; E. L. Thorndike, Animal Intelligence, 1898, pp. 47-64; A. J. 
Kinnaman. American Journal of Psychology, Vol. xiii, p. 196; L. 
W. Cole, Concerning the Intelligence of Raccoons, in Journal of 
Comparative Neurology, Vol. xvii. No. 3 ; H. Miinsterberg. Psy- 
chology and the Teacher. 1909, Ch. xix. On children's ideals, E. M. 
Darrah, A Study of Children's Ideals, in Popular Science Monthly, 
Vol. liii. p. 88; W. G. Chambers. The Evolution of Ideals, in Ped. 
Sem., Vol. X, p. 101 ; E. Barnes, Children's Ideals, in Ped. Sem., 
Vol. vii. p. 3 ; Type Study of Ideals, in Studies in Education, Vol. 
II, pp. 37, 78, 115, 157, 198, 237, 319, 359, 392. 



Chapteb X. 
HABIT. 

Nature of habit. — Habit may be defined as a defi- 
nite, acquired response to a definite stimulus. It 
differs from instinct, as was pointed out in chapter 
IV, in being a type of response whose definiteness 
has been acquired and fixed in the lifetime of the indi- 
vidual. There is no essential psychological or phys- 
iological difference between these two forms of ac- 
tion; they differ only in the matter of their origin. 
The instinctive response is one whose co-ordination, 
with its stimulus, is provided for in inherited struc- 
tures and does not have to be learned and perfected 
by practice. But an habitual response is one that is 
learned, perfected and fixed by practice, by repeti- 
tion. The nervous system is but a means of connect- 
ing and co-ordinating the muscular response of an 
indi^ddual with the impressions of the external 
world. Now, those responses that are most essential 
and fundamental to the life of the animal become 
insured by the fixing, through heredity, of the ner- 
vous connection between sense organ and muscle, 
binding together stimulus and response, so that when 
the stimulus is first presented to the individual the 
response comes with considerable definiteness and 
precision. Such a response is instinctive and is the 
result of natural selection acting upon the animals 
of a species. When a movement becomes so neces- 

[124] 



HABIT. 125 

sary in the life of an individual that it is repeated 
over and over again, its connection with its stimulus 
or the situation that calls it forth becomes more and 
more definite, and the probability that the given stim- 
ulus or situation will evoke the same response be- 
comes greater and greater. The nature of the ner- 
vous chain which functions to join stimulus and re- 
sponse is doubtless the same in the two cases. 

James,* who has written the best chapter on habit, 
says: **The moment one tries to define habit, one is 
led to the fundamental properties of matter. The 
laws of nature are but the immutable habits which 
the different elementary sorts of matter follow in 
their actions and reactions upon each other. In the 
organic world, however, the habits are more variable 
than this. * * * The philosophy of habit is thus, 
in the first instance, a chapter in physics rather than 
in physiology or psychology. That it is at bottom a 
physical principle is admitted by all good recent 
writers on the subject." James then proceeds to 
give examples in the physical world of the analogues 
of habit in the organic world. The river sticks to its 
channel after it has cut it deep in the earth, a lock 
works better after it has been used, a coat 'sets' to 
the back of its owner. If a flat piece of glass has a 
drop of water put upon it, and is then tilted slightly, 
the drop wanders rather slowly and uncertainly 
across the surface of the glass. But if another drop 
is put in the same place and the experiment repeated, 
it moves off readily in the path of the first. These 
analogies may not throw much light on the nature of 
habit, but they may very well serve to call our atten- 

•Prlnciples of Psychology, Vol. 1, ch. Iv. 



126 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

tion to the fact that the ultimate explanation of habit 
is doubtless physical or chemical. The bare fact 
seems to be, as far as we know it, that the passage 
of a nervous discharge along a certain path facili- 
tates future discharges along the same path. And 
in general the more often the same impression is fol- 
lowed by the same neuro-muscular change, the more 
certain and definite the physiological connection 
seems to become. Not only does every repetition 
serve to fix the habit, but the fixing of the habit goes 
on to some extent between repetitions. It has been 
said that the nervous system ''grows to the modes 
in which it has been exercised," that we "learn to 
swim in winter and to skate in summer. ' ' This means 
that our habits are being formed not only while we 
are actually repeating the act, but also between times. 
To some extent the nervous system is built up around 
the paths once marked out. The actual nature of the 
change that has taken place in the nerves is not 
known, but it must be some sort of chemical or phys- 
ical rearrangement of particles that makes easy a 
nervous discharge along the accustomed path. With- 
out speculating concerning the ultimate basis of 
habit, the psychologist is warranted in assuming a 
physiological basis. The neuro-muscular system de- 
velops and 'sets' along the line of its exercise. 

Function of habit. — The results that are accom- 
plished for an individual by habits are both biolog- 
ical and psychological. (1) The biological results. 
(a) Habit perfects a response by making it more ac- 
curate and therefore better serve its purpose. Some 
illustrations will make the point clear. Suppose one 
wishes to throw a ball and hit a mark. The first 



HABIT 127 

throws go wide of the mark, but with practice they 
go nearer and nearer to the mark. With much prac- 
tice, extending over many months and years, a per- 
son can throw with great accuracy. The learning of 
any performance demanding skill shows the same 
thing: typewriting, piano playing, driving nails, 
sewing, knitting, and even expressing one's thoughts 
in spoken or written words. In each there is a prog- 
ress from poor performance to accurate perform- 
ance. Habit, then, first of all, secures the accurate 
performance of a response, (b) Not only is the 
habitual act ordinarily performed more accurately 
than before habituation, but it is performed more 
quickly. The person learning typewriting not only 
improves in accuracy, but also in speed. The begin- 
ner at typewriting makes more mistakes and at the 
same time goes more slowly than does the experi- 
enced performer. The mathematician increases his 
speed as well as his accuracy. In any field of activity 
where one moves accurately, one moves also quickly. 
The experienced surgeon performs the most delicate 
operation with great dispatch. The carpenter, the 
blacksmith, — the experienced workman in every 
field, — has both accuracy and speed. It is the inex- 
perienced workman that is slow, inaccurate, awk- 
ward, (c) It follows that the habitual act is per- 
formed with less waste of energy. Unnecessary 
movements are eliminated; the stimulus goes over 
directly to the appropriate response without being 
side-tracked to unnecessary movements. It is indeed 
because of this close, definite, mechanical connection 
of stimulus and response that the act is performed 
with more accuracy and speed. The inexperienced 



128 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

tennis player is soon exhausted because of the tre- 
mendous energy unnecessarily expended in receiving 
and serving the balls. Nearly every muscle in the 
body is brought into service. Not so with the accom- 
plished player ; for him the unnecessary movements 
are eliminated; long practice has co-ordinated and 
mechanised for him all the various movements. A 
ball approaching in a certain fashion is met by a defi- 
nite sort of stroke. The best player is the one that 
has best perfected the various movements. If one 
watches a child or even an adult trying to perform 
a new and difficult act, one can see the indications of 
waste of energy in grimaces, writhing, twisting of the 
body in awkward, unnecessary movements. These 
superfluous movements disappear with practice, and, 
as a rule, the most efficient performer of any act 
does it with the greatest ease, with the least effort, 
(d) The habitual act is performed with less fatigue, 
doubtless, in part at least, because of the elimination 
of unnecessary movements and the close mechanical 
connection of stimulus and response. There may be 
less fatigue partly because the body is actually bet- 
ter able to perform the act because of practice. The 
muscles involved actually have more strength, and 
there may be more nervous energy available. Use 
adapts the organism for the response. Because of 
this adaptation the organism has more capacity for 
endurance. It is the novice that gives out first in any 
performance. The inexperienced walker gives out 
in an hour or two ; the habitual walker can go all day 
with ease. The boy learning carpentry soon tires of 
driving nails; the experienced carpenter can work 
all day long and day after day. Capacity to endure, 



HABIT 129 

whatever may be the causes, is one of the important 
results of habituation, (e) Not only does habituation 
accomplish the above improvements for the organ- 
ism, but it makes the appropriate response more cer- 
tain upon the appearance of the required situation; 
more certain, because more mechanical and direct. 
The nervous path involved, because of having been 
so frequently used, with ever more and more fatality, 
carries the stimulus into immediate and certain ac- 
tion. Therefore, the biological function of habit 
• might be said to be to perfect a response and pre- 
serve it in its purity, securing the greatest possible 
efficiency with the greatest possible economy of 
effort. 

(2) The psychological results, (a) The process of 
habituation tends to take an action outside the realm 
of active attention. The action that at first has a 
high clearness value, is rich in conscious content, by 
repetition drops to a lower conscious level. In the 
repeated performance of any act the progress is 
toward automatisation and mechanisation of move- 
ment and away from richness in conscious content. 
In other words, the habitual movement has little con- 
scious accompaniment, and indeed it is possible to 
carry it to the point of complete automatisation till it 
has the characteristic, almost, of a simple reflex. In 
such cases the movement is turned over to the lower 
nervous centers and may be completely outside the 
realm of consciousness. This end, the mechanisation 
of movement, is the goal toward which all repeated 
movements tend, (b) While the conscious aspect of 
an habitual movement is poor in sensory and idea- 
tional content, its affective change is not quite so 



130 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

simple, for there clearly is not simply a loss of affect- 
ive value, but rather a change to pleasantness. 
Habitual movements seem to become a necessity of 
the organism in much the same way that instinctive 
movements do, and therefore pleasurable. More- 
over, the fact that they are performed with ease and 
without much fatigue would indicate their pleasur- 
ableness, for, as a rule, what we do with ease we do 
with pleasure. At any rate, whether the acquiring 
of a pleasant affective accompaniment is universal or 
not, it must be true that the loss of any unpleasant 
accompaniment is general. Of course, there may be 
conditions accompanying the performance of an 
habitual act that bring unpleasantness, but it is not 
due to the act itself. One may tire of doing the 
habitual act just as one may tire of doing the instinct- 
ive thing. There seems to be at least a vague content 
and satisfaction with having done the habitual thing, 
and this fact becomes quite evident when a person or 
animal is prevented from doing the long habituated 
thing. The long performance of an act seems to 
make that performance necessary for the health and 
well-being, sometimes even the life, of the animal. 
When a habit is broken off there may sometimes be 
pleasure at first from the change, but there usually 
comes a yearning for the old performance, a desire 
for the old activity, that sometimes can not be re- 
sisted. Doing the accustomed thing, then, gives at 
least a vague content and satisfaction that becomes 
apparent when the habitual act is interrupted. It 
must be noted here that muscular movement, from 
whatever point of view it is considered, has tre- 
mendous significance for animal life. The organised 



HABIT 131 

movements of an individual, instinctive and acquired, 
largely determine the individual's needs and pleas- 
ures, (c) Fatigue is both physiological and psycho- 
logical, i. e., there is exhaustion of energy and there 
is a feeling of exhaustion. It follows that the de- 
crease of fatigue from habituation is one of the psy- 
chological results, (d) Another psychological result 
is a feeling of confidence that one has toward an act 
that one can perform with skill. After long perform- 
ance of an act one acquires such skill that the per- 
formance can be approached with confidence, without 
fear of failure, because long experience has taught 
the person just what can be done. The performer 
knows just what the possibilities are. The very fact 
that the task is approached with a feeling of confi- 
dence and surety makes success more likely. The 
psychological function of habit is, therefore, to re- 
move the necessity of active attention. With the 
habituated action in the background of attention, it 
is then possible for other processes to occupy the 
focus of attention at the same time that the habitual 
action is going on. It is interesting to contemplate 
what life would be without habit. If all our actions 
were always performed as if for the first time, life 
would be difiicult, to say the least. Dressing, and eat- 
ing three meals a day would use up our energy and 
take the most of our time ; but, thanks to the effects 
of habit, nearly all these routine actions of every day 
occurrence go on of themselves without the aid of 
consciousness, which is accordingly relieved for other 
and higher functioning. 

Importance of habit in education. — We have 
learned that education is a process of adjustment, an 



132 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

apprenticeship in learning the world and acquiring 
a set of responses that will enable the individual to 
live. He must learn the nature of the various things 
in the environment, — how they act and how he must 
act in their presence. As the years of an individual's 
development go by a system of responses is built up 
and perfected. By the end of the first third of life 
this system is fairly well complete. "Whether the 
child goes to school or not, in this sense, he is edu- 
cated ; some sort of system of action is perfected and 
fixed. And within the limits set by the instincts any 
sort of system is possible. Lying, murder, stealing, 
robbery, deceit are possible, as well as truthfulness, 
honesty, acts of sympathy and helpfulness, and all 
other forms of virtuous action that lead to mutual 
happiness. The schools are an institution of society 
that undertakes to guide and control the formation 
of habits that will be for the highest social good. The 
twofold function of education is quite plain: (1) On 
the one hand, it can guide and assist the child in 
acquiring knowledge, and (2) on the other hand, it 
can perform the same function in the matter of habit- 
formation. In the past the Imowledge side of educa- 
tion has been emphasized and the habit side largely 
neglected. Indeed, it has often been forgotten that 
the acquiring of knowledge is but a part of education, 
that knowledge is only a means, that it should always 
point to action. Education should be as much con- 
cerned with guiding, perfecting and fixing an individ- 
ual's responses as with the organisation of his ideas 
to guide these responses. There is no question that 
every individual soon becomes largely a creature of 
habit. It is the business of education to guide and 



HABIT 133 

aid in securing the formation of such a system of 
habits as will serve the highest interests of the indi- 
vidual and society. As soon as a child is born habit- 
formation sets in, — at first in such matters as time 
and manner of taking food, time, place and manner 
of going to sleep, methods of getting what it wants, 
etc. The process goes on, soon including manner of 
speech, of eating, of walking, of writing, of reading, 
relation to others, continuing for twenty-five or 
thirty years till a system is perfected that meets the 
individual's needs. It may be that it meets them 
more inadequately than would some other system, 
but it meets them. The rule is that this system of 
responses thus acquired and perfected suffices for the 
rest of life with little modification. The individual :s 
henceforth very much a machine, reacting largely 
mechanically, with rather definite ways of meeting 
the various situations of life. There is no way of 
avoiding this outcome of individual development. 
And, on the whole, it is well that as many of life's 
reactions as possible be mechanised and handed over 
to the lower nerve-centers. The utmost that educa- 
tion can hope to do is to keep the individual plastic 
until the highest possible forms of responses for the 
various situations of life can be acquired and fixed. 
But it is nonsense to talk about keeping the individ- 
ual permanently plastic; set he will and must. And 
fortunate we may consider the individual if we can 
prolong his infancy till he acquires what may be con- 
sidered a fairly adequate form of response. 

The view of education as the conscious attempt of 
society to assist the child in organising his knowl- 
edge of the world and in perfecting and habituating 



134 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 

his responses can not be too clearly kept in view. 
And the possibilities and limitations must never be 
forgotten. On the knowledge side we can assist the 
child in acquiring knowledge and to some extent de- 
termine what knowledge it will acquire. On the 
habit side there are great possibilities. Sufficient 
wisdom, patience and care on the part of elders 
enable the normal child to reach maturity with the 
great majority of his necessary reactions reduced to 
a fair degree of automatisation. Speaking, writing, 
reading, social responses, the various routine actions 
of every-day life, and even moral and professional 
actions, can, for the most part, be reduced far toward 
the plane of unconscious mechanism. It shall be our 
concern in the pages that immediatelly follow to 
work out the laws that control the process of habit- 
formation so that we may know how to proceed intel- 
ligently to guide and assist in their formation. It is 
evident that the curriculum should be examined and 
analysed into the ideas to be organised and the habits 
to be formed, and that the methods used must be 
adapted to the end to be attained. If habits are to 
be formed, then the procedure must be what psychol- 
ogy dictates as being in accord with the laws of 
habit-formation. 

The ethics of habit.— Chapter XII is devoted to the 
subject of habits and morals, but a brief, general 
statement is not out of place here. From what has 
been said above, it is evident that habit plays the 
same role in all forms of action, whether of moral 
significance or not. All the moral actions of our ma- 
ture life will have habit as their basis. The impor- 
tant function of habit here can not be better ^3c- 



HABIT 135 

pressed than in the classic words of James :* ''Habit 
is thus the enormous flywheel of society, its most 
precious conservative agent. It alone is what keeps 
us all within the bounds of ordinance, and saves the 
children of fortune from the envious uprisings of the 
poor. It alone prevents the hardest and most repul- 
sive walks of life from being deserted by those 
brought up to tread therein. It keeps the fisherman 
and the deck-hand at sea through the winter ; it holds 
the miner in his darkness, and nails the countryman 
to his log-cabin and his lonely farm through all the 
months of snow ; it protects us from invasion by the 
natives of the desert and the frozen zone. It dooms 
us all to fight out the battle of life upon the lines of 
our nurture or our early choice, and to make the best 
of a pursuit that disagrees, because there is no other 
for which we are fitted and it is too late to begin 
again. It keeps different social strata from mixing. 
Already at the age of twenty-five you see the profes- 
sional mannerism settling down on the young com- 
mercial traveler, on the young doctor, on the young 
minister, on the young counsellor-at-law. You see 
the little lines of cleavage running through the char- 
acter, the tricks of thought, the prejudices, the ways 
of the 'shop', in a word, from which the man can by 
and by no more escape than his coat sleeve can sud- 
denly fall into a new set of folds. On the whole, it is 
best that he should not escape. It is well for the 
world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the 
character has set like plaster and will never soften 
ajrain." 



*W. James, Principles of Psychology, Vol. I, p. 121. 



136 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

Laws of habit-formation. — The perfection and defi- 
niteness acquired in the process of habituation de- 
pend directly upon the number of attentive and 
pleasurable repetitions and inversely upon the num- 
ber of exceptions. These facts may be expressed in 
the formula, 

Perfection and Repetitions X vividness X pleasure 

denniteness of = p 

exceptions 
response ^ 



DAYS 



» 5 - l» IS 20 25 30 J5 40 45 50 55 60. 

ITabltuatlon curves. The dotted line shows the improvement In accuracy 
and the continuous line shows the increase in speed, brought about by 
daily practice with the typewriter. 

Repetition. — The process of habituation brings 
about, as we have seen, on the biological side, some 
sort of neuro-mascular reorganisation that definitely 
and mechanically connects stimulus and response, 
and, on the psychological side, the dropping of the 
action from focal to lower level attention. In this 
development repetition is one of the most important 
factors. If, for example, we wish to establish the 
connection between stimulus X and response Y, we 



HABIT 137 

must get the response in the first place, and then have 
it repeated over and over again for days and months, 
and in some cases years. This repetition serves to 
mechanise the process. Other things equal, the 
greater the number of repetitions, the more perfect 
and mechanical do the physiological processes be- 
come and the less conscious value do they have. 
These two factors, the physiological and the mental, 
vary inversely. The more definite and mechanical 
the habit becomes, the less of conscious value it has. 
This inverse relation of consciousness (C) and me- 
chanisation (M) and their mutual dependence upon 
repetition (R) may be expressed in the formula, 

R = p . These formulas can be true, of course, only 

in a general way, and are given in the hope of aiding 
the student to hold in mind the general tendencies 
of the factors involved in habit-formation. The data 
necessary for making these formulas mathematically 
exact are not yet available. Sufficient experimental 
work has been done to show that within certain limits 
mechanisation bears a direct relation to repetition. 
However, if we measure mechanisation by speed and 
accuracy, it does not ordinarily proceed evenly. 
There are usually periods of rapid mechanisation 
followed by periods of slow mechanisation. If we 
take the average daily progress, then we can have a 
definite formula to express it, — repetition equals 
mechanisation multiplied by a constant. And al- 
though the mechanisation, so far as we can measure 
it, proceeds by jumps, it doubtless is fairly uniform 
if only we can keep the conditions constant. And the 
so-called "plateaus" of learning are doubtless as 



138 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

effective in producing mechanisation as are the repe- 
titions that actually show the improvement. So that 
we are probably justified in taking the average daily 
improvement as the rate of mechanisation. But we 
do not have sufficient data to enable us to speak with 
confidence concerning the decrease of attention to the 
act in process of habituation. We know in a general 
way that the action steadily passes to a lower level 
of attention, but the exact statement of the quantita- 
ive aspects of this passage from the focus of atten- 
tion to a lower level awaits a careful introspective 
analysis. 

One of the best illustrations of the effect and use of 
repetition comes from childhood and is due to imita- 
tion. Children, as we saw in chapter IX, are imi- 
tators. The desire and tendency to reproduce what 
they see done is one of the strongest and most impor- 
tant aspects of their nature. What interests us here 
is not merely the fact that they imitate, but that they 
repeat the imitative process over and over. We have 
already pointed out that imitation is the result of 
natural selection. In the evolution of our race the 
individuals that imitated survived because of the fol- 
lowing fact : repeated imitation of the actions of the 
grown people about them led to the formation in the 
children of habits of response that served to adjust 
them to their environment. Here we have an aspect 
of child nature essentially instinctive, whose func- 
tion is the formation of a system of habits that will 
serve as an adequate adjustment in a social life so 
complex that special instincts no longer sufficiently 
serve the individual's needs. Language, for example, 
is an important factor in social and civilised life. The 



HABIT 139 

basis of language is habit; the matter of acquiring 
language is almost entirely one of imitation. The 
child, usually within the first year, begins to repeat 
the sounds that he hears, — over and over again he 
says them, — mamma, mamma, mamma, and papa, 
papa, papa, etc., perhaps hundreds of times a day. 
And in the second year, as the names of things are 
learned, the sight or sound of an object serves to call 
forth its name, and the child is not satisfied with say- 
ing it once, but must repeat it, often many times. 
This process soon gives a child control of a language. 
Nature is an efficient teacher. A study of her 
methods reveals the fact that persistent, unending 
repetition is one of her important methods. 

The effects of repetition may be further shown by 
a consideration of the learning of typewriting. In 
typewriting the idea or perception of a certain word 
is followed by striking certain keys in a certain order. 
At first the performance is slow and uncertain, but 
by continued repetition the learner improves in 
speed and accuracy; more and more definite and 
mechanical becomes the response, less and less con- 
sciousness attends the movements. The repetition 
leads to the mechanisation of the movement, with the 
freeing of consciousness from attending to it. In the 
early period of learning consciousness is engrossed 
with the movements, and the meaning of the words 
written is not focal for attention. In this stage the 
management of the typewriter demands all the atten- 
tion of the learner. Gradually the movements con- 
cerned in striking the keys and operating the ma- 
chine become mechanical and drop to a low level of 
attention ; then the meanings of the words may be- 



140 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYOHOLOQT 

come objects of the focal processes for consciousness. 
As a result of repetition, then, the operation of the ma- 
chine is more rapid and accurate, and at the same 
time demands less attention. 

Repetition in attention. — Not only must a process 
be repeated to secure habituation, but mechanisation 
is more quickly secured if the repetitions at first are 
vividly present in consciousness. For repetitions to be 
most effective the action must be focal in attention. In 
other words, the more we attend to a process at first, 
the earlier we can afford to neglect attending to it ; 
and the less attention to the movements in the 
process of learning, the longer the process of habitu- 
ation. Repetition, then, to be most valuable must be 
at the height of attention. One reason why the imita- 
tive repetition of the child is so effective is because it 
involves the child's whole consciousness, — his whole 
being goes into his act. And one reason why the work 
of the school room is so ineffectual is because it does 
not involve the whole consciousness, but is often done 
on a low level of attention, while other processes 
occupy the focus. 

Pleasurable repetition. — Intimately connected 
with the fact of attention is that of interest. An in- 
teresting performance is one performed with accom- 
panying or resultant pleasure. The higher the affect- 
ive value of a repetition, the more it contributes to 
habituation. This factor, as well as attention, gives 
value to imitative repetition. The child not only 
gives his whole attention to what he does, but he 
takes immense pleasure in it. His whole being goes 
into the performance; there is nothing of a half- 
hearted nature about it. The natural activities of 



HABIT 141 

early life that are the expression of the maturing 
instincts are always pleasurable. It is for this rea- 
son largely that, as the child repeats his actions in 
play and imitation, he quickly acquires great facility. 
In our more or less blind and awkward attempts to 
secure repetition in later life we seldom approach 
the conditions of attention and interest that are com- 
mon in the spontaneous activities of childhood. But 
the key to success in teaching is, without doubt, to 
use the method of nature that underlies the education 
of our earlier years. Fortunate is the teacher who 
has had the opportunity to observe the growing 
child. Consider, for example, a child learning to 
feed itself in the early part of its second year. He 
manipulates the spoon with great awkwardness, he 
gets little food from it, but he insists on feeding him- 
self none the less. Great is the joy that he gets from 
it and great is the attention that he gives to it. The 
same fact is noticed when children are learning to 
dress themselves. They often show great anger if 
some one fastens a button for them, although it may 
save them a great deal of time. The act of dressing 
and undressing gives them much pleasure when they 
are just learning the performance. It is easy to see 
how natural selection would develop such qualities. 
A child that took no delight in feeding or dressing 
itself would never learn to do these things and would 
have a poor chance of survival. The child is a crea- 
ture of instinct. The instincts have a high affective 
value, therefore the instinctive repetitions of early 
life quickly lead to habituation. This fact is sug- 
gestive for education. If we can graft our habits 
upon some instinct or other, their formation is easy 



142 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

because of tlie above facts. Since inattentive, unin- 
teresting repetition is largely ineffectual, those who 
undertake the direction of habit-formation must seek 
to identify the desired response with some instinct 
or some great natural need of the child. 

Two further facts must be mentioned in this con- 
nection. Since the value of a repetition depends on 
its pleasurableness and vividness, drill periods and 
practice periods should be short and often repeated, 
for if the repetition coutinues for any great length of 
time it takes place without attention and pleasure. 
The effectual drill is short and performed at the 
highest point of mental efficiency and often repeated. 
This is an important fact for teachers to learn, for 
much of drill work has been a monotonous 'grind' 
that accomplished next to nothing. The second fac- 
tor that is important here is that of fatigue. When 
fatigue sets in, attention and pleasure ordinarily 
decline, unless large instinctive resources are being 
drawn upon. For children, ten or fifteen minutes are 
quite enough for practice at one time, and in the case 
of adults there is a large decrease in efficiency in the 
latter part of an hour's practice or drill. 

Habit and attitude. — Habit has an important rela- 
tion to attitude, probably because of the relation of 
attitude to attention and pleasure. One of the laws 
of attention is that what fits into one's attitude, one's 
general mood or frame of mind, will attract atten- 
tion. Since attention is necessary to valuable repe- 
tition, it is important that children have the proper 
frame of mind before practice begins. Another as- 
pect of attitude is verj significant : When one has a 
habit in process of formation, and allows an excep- 



HABIT 143 

tion to occur, it often results in a complete change 
of attitude toward the act involved. One changes, 
in such a case, from an attitude of certainty and con- 
fidence to one of uncertainty, from strength to 
wealmess. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR FTIRTHEIl STTJDY. 

1. Make a list of acts performed In a day that may be called 
habits. Indicate, in each case, the stimulus and the response. 

2. Point out the physiological and psychological results of habit- 
uation for each habit enumerated in answer to No. 1. 

3. Illustrate, from your own experience, the laws of habit for- 
mation as expressed in the two formulas in the chapter. Take 
account of attention, pleasure, repetition, exceptions. 

4. Have you ever habituated an act that was at first unpleasant ? 
If so, did the unpleasantness disappear? Did the act become 
pleasant later? 

5. Do you now perform any habitual act that is unpleasant? 
Is the unpleasantness due to the act itself or to attending circum- 
stances? Cite all the evidence you can that seems to show that the 
statement of the text concerning the pleasurableness of habitual 
acts is not true. 

6. Mention some habitual acts that are devoid of all feeling. 
Are they not far on the way toward automatisms? 

7. Name some of your oldest habits. How do they compare 
with instincts in their definiteness? 

8. Apply the principles laid down in the chapter by experiment- 
ing for one mouth in forming a habit. Keep a complete record of 
the whole experiment. If it is possible to do so, plot a curve show- 
ing the progress in mechanisation, using speed and accuracy as 
criteria of mechanisation. Before beginning the experiment make 
an outline of it and hand in to the instructor for criticism. 

9. Give from your own experience illustrations showing the 
effect of attitude on habit. 

10. Give illustrations of habit in domestic animals. How were 
the habits formed? 

11. Suppose that a person is practicing on the violin and the 
arms get tired, although attention and pleasure are still main- 
tained. Can the practice be continued profitably? and if so, how 
long? If not, why not? 

12. Suppose a bad habit has been broken for several years. Is 
there any danger of backsliding? 

13. Plan a method of breaking a habit that has become an 
automatism. 

14. Do you think a person learning to play the piano can prac- 
tice profitably for three or four hours at a time? 



144 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 



15. Have you ever formed a habit against your will? 

16. How account for the fact that some people are better teach- 
ers when young than when they are older and have habituated 
their various procedures? 

17. Give illustrations of various professional habits. Make a 
list of professional mannerisms that you notice in a day. 

18. Find what percentage of people over 40 have changed the 
religion of their early days. 

19. Is there such a thing as a habit of thought? Explain fully. 

20. Can one repetition form a habit? Explain. 

21. Do habits work against progress? Show how they may 
work for progress. 

22. Have you known of old people changing their place and 
manner of living? If so, give account of the results. 

23. What aspect of habit formation is most difficult? Answer 
from your experience. 

24. Are there any habits not based directly on instinct? 

25. Can you give apparent exceptions to the statement that 
habituation gives confidence? 

26. In the formation of a habit, what makes it possible to 
couple up the response and stimulus the first time? Illustrate. 

27. Deal out a pack of cards according to a certain scheme until 
you have acquired considerable speed, then deal them according 
to a diflferent scheme and note the interference of the first habit, 

28. If you have ever carried a watch for a long time and then 
changed the watch to a different pocket, what was the result? Give 
other illustrations of similar nature. 

29. Did you ever remove your coat to prepare for dinner and 
continue to undress as if preparing to retire? What is the prin- 
ciple illustrated by such a procedure? If a man remove his vest 
In the daytime, he is almost sure to wind his watch. Why is this? 

30. Are people who marry late in life as likely to get along well 
together as those who marry earlier? What principles are in- 
volved? 

31. Attention often interferes with the performance of an 
habitual act. Why is this? 

32. Can you give an illustration showing the relation of habit 
to sickness? 

33. Why is it difficult to form new habits late In life? 

EEPERENCES. 

FOR GENERAL TREATMENT : 

W. James, Principles of Psychology, Vol. i, Ch. iv; Psycliology, 
Briefer Course, Ch. x ; in Popular Science Monthly, Vol. xxx, p. 
433; Talks to Teachers, 1906, Ch. viii ; S. H. Rowe, Habit-Forma- 
tion, 1909, Chs. i-v; B. R. Andrews, Habit, in American Journal of 
Psychology, xiv, p. 121 ; W. C. Bagley, The Educative Process, 1905, 
Ch. vll ; J. R. Angell, Psychology, 1908, pp. 66-74 ; C. H. Judd, Psy- 
chology, 1907, Ch. viil; R. M. Yerkes, Introduction to Psychology, 



HABIT 145 

1911, pp. 401-408; P. Radestock, HaMt and Its Importance in Edu- 
cation, translated by F. A. Caspari, 1886, still worth reading ; E. L. 
Thorndike, The Principles of Teaching, 1906, p. 110; E. A. Kirk- 
patrick, Genetic Psychology, 1909, pp. 111-126. 

ORIGINAL STUDIES: W. L. Bryan, On the Development of 
Voluntary Motor Ability, in American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 
V. p. ]25; W. L. Bryan and N. Harter, Studies on the Telegraphic 
Language: The Acquisition of a Hierarchy of Habits, in Psycho- 
logical Review, Vol. vi, p. 345; E. J. Swift, Mind in the Making, 
1908, Ch. vi ; also Studies in the Psychology and Physiology of 
Learning, in American Journal of Psychology, Vol. xiv, p. 201 ; W. 
F. Book, The Psychology of SJcill, with Special Reference to Its 
Acquisition in Typetcriting, 1908 ; W. G. Anderson, Studies in the 
Effects of Physical Training, in American Physical Education Re- 
view, Vol. iv, p. 2G5 ; J. H. Bair, The Practice Curve, in Psycholog- 
ical Review, Monograph Supplement, No. 14 (1902) ; T. L. Bolton, 
Relation of Motor Power to Intelligence, in American Journal of 
Psychology, Vol. xiv, pp. 622-631. 



Chapter XI. 
HABIT AND EDUCATION. 

The nature of habit and the principles that under- 
lie its formation have already been set forth. In this 
chapter we shall consider the problems that arise in 
the application of these principles. 

The function of the teacher. — It is worth while to 
get a clear notion of what the teacher can do to assist 
the young in the formation of habits. (1) First of 
all, the teacher should know clearly the nature of the 
habits to be formed; he should have a thorough 
knowledge of the curriculum, and, as Dr. Rowe has 
pointed out, know the nature of its different parts ; 
know what is largely a matter of ideas to be acquired 
and what is largely a matter of habits to be formed. 
Every branch of study has both aspects, both a 
knowledge side and a skill side. But some branches, 
as history, literature and science, are predominantly 
matters of ideas, information ; while others, as draw- 
ing, painting, singing, reading, writing, much of 
mathematics, are largely matters of skill to be ac- 
quired. The teacher must have this broad and funda- 
mental knowledge of the course of study and of the 
nature and relation of its various parts in order to 
be able understandingly to direct the work of the 
pupil. In addition to this general knowledge, he 
should be able to analyse a subject into its various 
elements and know well the object of each step, each 
lesson in the pupil's progress. For example, if the 

[146] 



HABIT AND EDUCATION' 147 

object of a lesson is to automatise a part of the mul- 
tiplication table, then one procedure is required; if, 
on the other hand, the object of the lesson is to learn 
the cause of eclipses, a different procedure is re- 
quired. Here, of course, we are concerned only with 
those studies or parts of studies that involve the for- 
mation of a habit. Suppose, then, the teacher knows 
the object of a lesson to be the formation of a habit ; 
his next duty is (2) to explain the habit desired to the 
pupils. It may be that usually certain ideas are first 
to be developed, then processes habituated. After 
the development of the ideas, the teacher should ex- 
plain and demonstrate each step in the processes 
that are to be habituated. To illustrate, suppose the 
lesson is to learn how to extract square root. What 
square root is, is first explained, then the various 
steps in finding it are worked out and clearly demon- 
strated. The teacher must have in mind a well de- 
fined method and adhere to it after first explaining 
and justifying it. In the case of young pupils, pro- 
cedures will often be learned before the principles 
underlying the processes are known, but this does 
not concern us here and has nothing to do with the 
formation of the habit. In any case, the teacher 
should fully explain and demonstrate the separate 
steps in their proper order. In the example cited 
the procedure might be: (a) point off the number 
into periods of two figures each; (b) find the largest 
number whose square is not larger than the first 
period; (c) put this down as the first figure of the 
root; (d) square this figure and subtract the square 
from the first period of the number; (e) bring down 
the next period; (f) for a trial divisor, annex a 



148 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

cipher to the root found and double it; (g) find how 
many times this trial divisor is contained in the pres- 
ent dividend, making allowance for the completed 
divisor ; this gives the next figure of the root, and it 
is then substituted for the cipher in the trial divisor, 
giving the completed divisor, (h) wliich is then mul- 
tiplied by the new figure of the root and the product 
subtracted from the dividend; proceed as before. 
Every particular of the procedure is to be explained 
and made clear by abundant illustration, and to be 
sure that the pupils understand it, before they are 
put to work at solving problems by themselves, the 
teacher should have them solve a few problems while 
he is present to correct the mistakes. This brings us 
to the next function of the teacher, which is (3) to set 
the pupils right and correct the errors that they 
make at the beginning of the process of habituation. 
Neither the teacher nor the pupil knows whether the 
pupil understands a process until the latter is put 
to the test. Therefore the economical way is to set 
the learner right at the start, to take infinite pains 
at the beginning. (4) Closely allied to the preced- 
ing is the matter of requiring the pupil to master 
important details in the series of processes. Quite 
often complex habits are not well formed because the 
pupils are not kept long enough on the separate and 
important details. Ease of performance is never 
attained till the details are mastered and habituated. 
Children are content to stop practice with a fair 
degree of mastery, and too often the teacher is will- 
ing that they should, but he can render one of his 
greatest services by holding the children to the mas- 
tery of all essential details in the process to be habit- 



HABIT AND EDUCATION 149 

Tiated. (5) The teacher can greatly assist the child 
by supplying a motive for acquiring the habit in 
question. This is what Dr. Rowe calls getting initia- 
tive. The teacher can help here by making clear to 
the pupil the necessity of the habit in question. In- 
deed, the pupil can be made to feel this need very 
keenly by finding his equipment inadequate to his 
needs and by noting the ease by which others who 
have formed the habit can do what he himself can not 
do. In addition, the teacher can see that the child 
reap the benefit of every little advance toward habit- 
uation and be allowed the satisfaction that comes 
from achievement. He can do much also by words of 
encouragement, by calling attention to progress, and 
in other ways inducing good feeling in the child. 

Repetition, practice. — The problem of drill is one 
of the most difficult that the teacher ever has to meet. 
It takes a great amount of practice to make a skilful 
performer at anything, — the pianist, typewriter, 
stenographer, accountant become expert by long and 
persistent practice. Ease, accuracy and speed in 
spelling, reading, writing, adding, etc., come only at 
the cost of much energy spent in drill, in repetition. 
By drill here we do not mean merely formal drill, but 
any and all manner of repetitions by which the 
process becomes fixed. As far as establishing the 
habit is concerned, it makes no difference whether 
the repetitions are in the form of formal drill or are 
made a necessary part of some larger performance ; 
no difference so long as the psychological and phys- 
iological conditions that have been mentioned are 
maintained. There is no reason why the schools 
should try to get away from all drill and practice 



150 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

pure and simple. Where drill can be carried on at 
the highest point of efficiency, and the drill is neces- 
sary for the fixing of a habit, there is no use bother- 
ing about making the drill merely incidental, unless 
there are other considerations. Those who claim 
that drill should be merely incidental certainly have 
no right to say that they are following the method 
of nature, for nearly all the time of the early years 
of childhood is spent in continuous repetition of 
whatever the child is able to do. The problems pre- 
sented by drill are many, such as the length, fre- 
quency, conditions and kinds. Experimental psy- 
chology can not yet fully answer all the questions 
involved. As already indicated, the drill period 
should be short; not longer than a high degree of 
attention and interest can be maintained. Vigorous 
drill can hardly occupy a period of an hour for an 
adult, and for children the period is much less, the 
length depending on age and individual differences. 
A half-hour of attention sustained at the highest 
point does pretty well for adults, and half that time 
for children. The proper frequency for drills or 
practice is not yet determined. Although it seems 
probable, in the light of recent experiments, that 
daily practice periods are better than practice twice 
a day or on alternate days. It is probably true that 
for adults two half-hour periods of practice daily 
are better than one single hour period. But, one 
practice a day, to the point of fatigue, is prob- 
ably best. It is not economical, as regards the 
total amount of time, to push practice to an early 
conclusion. The formation of a habit is to some 
extent a growth, and growth takes time. A 
neuro-muscular organisation is involved, and a cer- 



HABIT AND EDUCATION 151 

tain amount and frequency of repetition are most 
favorable for this organisation. Pushing a habit 
to an early fixation may sometimes be necessary and 
desirable, but it is not economical from the point of 
view of total amount of time. After a child has prac- 
ticed an act for a certain length of time, further prac- 
tice at that time is nearly useless; so also is prac- 
ticing useless till an interval has elapsed. Teachers 
probably make a mistake when they try to perfect a 
habit in a short time. In the light of our present 
knowledge, it would probably be the best procedure 
to keep up frequent and vigorous drill for a time and 
then allow some days for a rest. But drill should not 
be finally dropped till a fair degree of fixity is at- 
tained. The conditions of drill are important, inas- 
much as they must always be such as to furnish the 
proper degree of interest and attention. All the at- 
tending circumstances may be varied, b''it the act 
itself must not be varied. Two times three must 
always be six, but it can be six in a great variety of 
situations. Children should always be fresh for 
practice periods, and the most favorable times of the 
day should be taken for them. It is much easier to 
maintain attention and interest in presenting new 
ideas than it is in repeating what has already been 
done. And a teacher will save much time and energy 
by carefully distributing the periods of practice and 
varying the conditions so as to maintain the proper 
mental attitude for the right results. Dr. Rowe has 
given some good, practical directions for aiding 
pupils that have a habit to form. He suggests that a 
definite number of repetitions be set for a definite 
time and place. If, for example, the matter is a new 



152 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

trick in arithmetic to be habituated, a definite number 
of problems should be set to be solved at a definite 
time and place. And it is doubtless well to go into 
just such details as these. It is not sufficient after 
establishing a new principle to say, ' * Now you must 
practice this." But rather the teacher should say, 
'* Tonight, at eight o'clock, go into your room, where 
it is quiet, and do this ten times. ' ' 

Exceptions. — The psychology of exceptions has 
already been discussed, but a word on the application 
of these principles is in order. The teacher has two 
important duties here. The tremendous importance 
of preventing exceptions should be made plain to the 
pupils. And, in addition, the teacher can do much 
to help the child in preventing exceptions; he can 
help the child to start with great impetus ; he can help 
to remove temptations in the early stages of fixation, 
and by appealing to other interests and instincts he 
can help to maintain ambition for success. Older 
children can be helped much by having the principles 
of habit-formation explained to them, and none of 
these principles is of more importance, perhaps, than 
that of allowing no exceptions. As soon as children 
are old enough for the knowledge to be of any worth 
to them it should be given to them. The teacher can 
give this information and give help in the various 
ways indicated to enable them to put the principles 
to successful use. Parents, particularly mothers, 
seem never to realise the significance of exceptions, 
for every day they can be seen to display the great- 
est ignorance or folly. After weeks of training in 
some habit a child is allowed to make a flagrant ex- 
ception, thereby undoing the effect of practice. In 



HABIT AND EDUCATION 153 

the formation of a habit nothing is so important as 
absolute regularity, and nothing so detrimental to 
success as exceptions. Therefore both teachers and 
parents should be careful in the planning of habits 
to be formed, but when the work is once determined 
upon and begun the course outlined should be pur- 
sued with the determination of a bulldog and with 
the regularity of planetary motion. Suppose, for 
the sake of an illustration, that the matter under- 
taken is to put a baby to bed and have it go to sleep 
there without any further attention. The thing is 
easy enough to do, but suppose that after a few weeks 
the mother takes the child out of its bed to fondle it ; 
the good work is all undone, and it is usually harder 
to get the baby back into the old habit of quietly 
going to sleep than it was in the beginning. And it 
is not much different with older people. The very 
essence of habit is its regularity and definiteness, 
and it can not be established except by regular and 
definite procedure. There is nothing doubtful or 
mysterious about habits ; they are as definite and as 
dependent upon known factors as are the things of 
the physical world. And it is just as necessary that 
one proceed in accordance with the principles in- 
volved in the case of habit as it is in such a matter 
as building a bridge. One could not build a bridge 
without taking accoimt of such principles as gravita- 
tion, adhesion, friction, expansion and contraction, 
etc.; but if one take into account all the principles 
and facts involved, one can plan a bridge in every 
detail and be confident of the outcome of the con- 
struction. The situation is not very different in 
forming a habit. If one practice under the proper 



154 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

conditions and allow no exceptions to occur, there 
is great certainty, allowing for individual differences, 
of what the outcome will be. AVe know what will be 
the outcome of three months of practice on the type- 
writer one hour each day. If the proper kind of 
practice prevails and the subject maintains the 
proper attitude and health, the outcome is certain. 
There will be some individual difference due to na- 
tive capacity, but we could predict what the average 
speed and accuracy attained would be. And, more 
than this, the psychologist could determine by an 
hour's test what would be the outcome in individual 
cases. If we are to work intelligently in the matter 
of habit-formation, then, teachers and parents must 
know the laws involved, and as soon as it is worth 
while these laws must be made known to the children 
themselves. And along with the effects of practice 
comes the effect of an exception. The great impor- 
tance of even a single exception is due to the effect 
it has upon feeling and attitude. It is not so much 
that the exception opens up another path of motor 
discharge as that it may change the attitude and feel- 
ing of the individual. 

Rules for habit-formation. — In James* well known 
chapter on Habit he lays down some rules for guid- 
ing one in the process of habit-formation. These 
rules and principles are elaborated in Eowe's book 
on habit-formation, constituting the main part of the 
volume. They have already been treated in our dis- 
cussion of the laws of habit, but it may be well to 
bring them together here in the form of rules for the 
guidance of the student. The rules may be stated 
in the form of simple commands: (1) Get initiative. 



HABIT AND EDUCATION 155 

(2) Get practice. (3) Allow no exceptions. Little 
further need be said concerning them, for they are 
based upon all the facts and principles that we have 
been considering. By initiative we mean motive and 
desire. There is no use to start in to form a habit 
unless we can put our whole being into it. We must 
see a reason for the habit and really desire it; we 
must have a purpose, an end in view. Initiative is 
supplied mainly from instinct and habits already 
formed, as well as from the feelings. Therefore, in 
looking for initiative, we must call the roll of the in- 
stincts to see which are available for functioning in 
this capacity, then we must call the roll of the feel- 
ings. These are the native sources, the main wells 
from which we can draw, but we can also call upon 
the needs and desires that we have built up and that 
have a basis of habit. This initial motive power may 
come, then, from our fighting instinct, our social in- 
stinct, the collecting instinct, from love, sympathy, 
etc., as well as from the many needs that arise as a 
result of our previously formed habits. An illustra- 
tion or two will make the point sufficiently clear. Let 
us take the matter of punctuality at school. Initia- 
tive might be based upon any number of instincts, 
emotions and habits. A child might want to come on 
time so that he could beat some other person's rec- 
ord, or so that his room might beat the record of 
another room, — the fighting instinct. He might want 
to come early in order to be with the other children ; 
there might be a social five minutes, the first thing 
in the morning, — this would appeal to the social in- 
stinct. He might want to come early in order to 
show collections, or to do some constructive work, or 



156 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

in order to see how nmch a plant had grown over 
night. Or, finally, it might be merely in response to 
the request of a teacher that is loved. Some of these 
motives will work for one child and some for another, 
some at one time and some at another. It is seldom 
that a tactful teacher can not find some way to arouse 
initiative. And when children are older it is seldom 
that they can not 'get up steam' in preparation for 
the formation of a habit. The factors concerned in 
practice have been discussed already. We have seen 
that practice there must be ii there is to be a habit. 
To be most effective it must be when the body is in 
good condition, and must stop short of fatigue. For 
this reason the practice intervals should be short, the 
length of time depending upon the age of the indi- 
■\ddual. One should have stated and definite times 
for practice. The practice must be at the highest 
point of efficiency; it must be attentive practice. It 
may be well to give some illustrations and sugges- 
tions to show how these rules may be observed. In 
the matter of initiative it is well when we start in to 
form some important habit to tell our friends so that 
we may have their encouragement to strengthen our 
initiative and to help us to prevent exceptions. It is a 
good idea to identify the desired habit with some 
other aspect of life so that the latter is available to 
strengthen initiative. Identifying a habit with other 
important interests not only gives initiative, but 
serves to keep the habit in mind, and thereby leads to 
practice and prevents exceptions. For securing 
practice there are many devices, such as signs and 
mottoes put up about our rooms ; then, also, the speci- 
fying the time and place and manner and amount of 
practice is helpful in securing practice and prevent- 



HABIT AND EDUCATION 157 

ing exceptions. Suppose the habit desired be rising 
at an early hour. VVe must make thorough prepara- 
tion in the way of initiative ; we must really want to 
do it and have a reason for doing it. To be sure of 
making a good start, we can have some one call us 
at the desired minute, and can also have an alarm 
clock. We must be sure to get up exactly on time, 
and must allow no exceptions, especially in the early 
stage. Even if it is Sunday morning and it is rain- 
ing, and there is no earthly use for rising at the early 
hour, the exception must not be made. Suppose, 
again, one is trying to break up the habit of smoking : 
one should announce it to one's friends, and should 
even seek frequent opportunities of being offered 
cigars, firmly refusing them, saying that one is no 
longer smoking. It is surprising what the outcome is. 
However, if there is any doubt about the outcome in 
such a case, it would be better to take an opposite 
course by starting in on the habit at a time when it 
would be impossible to get tobacco for some days. 
One of the most difficult things to do is to break up 
an automatism, an act that has gone below the con- 
scious level. The trouble is that one performs the 
act before one is aware of it. The way to success is 
to hit upon some plan of bringing the act to con- 
sciousness. The device must depend upon the par- 
ticular habit in question. A pupil of the author's 
once succeeded in breaking the habit of biting the 
lips that had existed since childhood. The plan used 
was to bite the lips consciously and say, *'Now I 
must not bite my lips." By doing this for several 
times it came about that when she would bite the lips 
these verbal ideas would come to her mind and finally 



158 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

enabled her to refrain from the act. A little practice 
and experimentation on the part of a teacher will 
soon reveal to him in a vivid fashion the facts and 
principles of habit-formation, and much better fit 
him for the direction of such work by his pupils. 

Habits are specific. — There is no such thing as the 
transfer of training. A habit is a habit ; it will func- 
tion where it will function, and that is the end of its 
usefulness. It may very well be that one habit will 
function in a much larger sphere of life than will 
others ; the field of usefulness of some habits may be 
much restricted, while that of others is large. 
Whether there be general habits depends upon what 
we mean by the term. It is the nature of a habit to 
be specific. That is what constitutes it a habit, — defi- 
nite response to a definite situation. There is a 
sense, however, in which habits of honesty, truthful- 
ness, etc., are general, but the thing that is general 
is the situation, — as long as the situations are meas- 
urably similar we may have the habitual response, 
but it usually happens that a variation in the situa- 
tion fails to bring the usual response. For example, 
such a thing as the habit of neatness may fail to 
function when the pupil works under a different 
teacher, or perhaps in a different subject. In the 
strict sense, then, there can be no such thing as 
formal discipline or general training, but at the same 
time we say this, we must say that there may be habits 
formed in connection with certain subjects of study 
that will function in many more situations of life 
than will those that are built up in connection with 
other subjects. If one study an ancient language, he 
will form many habits that will function in the study 



HABIT AND EDUCATION 159 

of at least some of the modem languages, but they 
might mifit one in the study of some of them. It, 
indeed, often happens that the training acquired in 
one field may unfit one for work in another field. It 
is the author's experience, for example, that the 
habits of procedure formed by a student of philos- 
ophy unfit him for the study of experimental psychol- 
ogy. For in the latter one must proceed by the slow 
inductive method of experimental science. The phil- 
osophic mind, accustomed to work things out a priori^ 
is too impatient to sit down and work out facts as a 
basis for its conclusions. As a rule, in every profes- 
sion, one finally acquires a certain way of attacking 
his problems, a certain mode of approach. One sees 
this in the lawyer, the physician, the scientist. The 
lawyer asks, "How have similar cases been decided!'* 
The doctor asks, ''"What disease have we here? What 
is its effect on the individual? What drug counter- 
acts this effect?," etc. So it turns out that whatever 
one's calling, one soon comes to have a definite \\ay 
of meeting the usual situation that confronts him, a 
procedure that works under ordinary circumstances, 
but that may not be adequate for different situations. 
Habits, then, of both mental procedure and physical 
procedure are rather specific. The question, there- 
fore, of the relative value of the different studies 
turns on what sort of habits we wish to acquire. A 
study of mathematics will form the habit of looking 
for the quantitative aspect of things. The study of 
natural and physical science will develop the habit of 
looking for the causal aspects of things. Since all 
must have at least something to do with both aspects 



160 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

of the world, all should study mathematics as well as 
science. The fact that quantitative relations are 
nearly always important is what gives to mathe- 
matics its great value, not that it has any general dis- 
ciplinary effect upon the mind. When we are con- 
cerned only with the qualitative aspects of things, 
mathematics is of no importance ; it might even unfit 
us for our task. For example, it is quite possible 
that the mathematical habit that must balance every 
equation might unfit one for getting the general 
tendency out of a great mass of data ; might unfit one 
for making daring generalisations that often lead to 
great progress in science. Of course, finally in every 
science mathematics must come in and have its 
inning. We alwaj'^s come around finally to ask the 
question, liow much? But there are stages in the de- 
velopment of science when this question can not be 
put for the reason that it can not be answered and 
is not yet of as much importance as the question, 
what? In psychology, for example, we have first to 
ask, what? Our first problem is that of analysis. 
From the point of view of habit, therefore, the duty 
of the teacher is to assist the pupil in the formation 
of habits that will enable him to meet the various 
situations that will confront him in the life that he 
will have to lead. Inasmuch as we live in the same 
society, there are many habits that should be the same 
for all. This is our general culture, so called. Inas- 
much as we must do different things, we must have 
different habits. This constitutes our special train- 
ing. The carpenter and the doctor should have com- 
mon habits of honesty and truthfulness, but the car- 



HABIT AND EDUCATION 161 

penter must be expert at driving nails, while the doc- 
tor must be expert at making pills. The fact that 
training is specific can hardly be too much empha- 
sised. In planning courses of study, while, of course, 
we should not lose sight of ideals and knowledge, we 
should work out very carefully what forms of skill 
the training is going to provide and whether this 
skill will be what the future environment will de- 
mand of the child. The school has made many of 
its greatest mistakes in believing, without carefully 
working the matter out, that it was giving training 
that would meet the demands of the future. The 
teacher worked on in the hope that he was giving a 
training that some day would be useful. There has 
been too much vagueness, too much done under the 
vague name of 'culture.' "What we need is a careful 
analysis of the future needs of the child in the life 
that he is to live, and then a careful planning of the 
habits and ideals that he will need in that life. Then 
the developing of these ideals and the forming of 
these habits is the work of the school. If one wishes 
to know how much vagueness there is in this regard, 
let him ask the average Latin teacher why a student 
should study Latin. We need to clear our school 
curriculums of a lot of rubbish and plan a curriculum 
in the light of modern conditions and modern needs. 
Everything that we cannot justify should be thrown 
out, and this justification should be future useful- 
ness, whether the matter be ideas or habits. Of 
course, usefulness must have a liberal interpretation, 
not merely a monetary one. We should have in mind 
the best sort of life in the best sort of society. 



162 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR rURTHER STUDY. 

1. Make a list of those studies in the curriculum that are chiefly 
matters of idea getting, and another list of those that are chiefly 
matters of habit formation. 

2. Show that no study is wholly either one or the other. 

3. Make a complete outline for the procedure in the formation 
of a habit related to arithmetic or other school subject. When 
you, as a teacher, have the opportunity to do so, make a careful 
record of the results of using such a plan. 

4. Compare the amount of time that should be spent in habit 
getting with the time that should be spent in getting ideas. Will 
this vary for different grades? 

5. Can you give from your own experience an illustration of the 
principle involved in learning to swim in winter and to skate in 
summer? How far is this principle true and what is its appli- 
cation? 

6. If the above principle is true, why is it that a pianist can 
not play as well after failure to practice for a long time? Have 
you any evidence showing the value of a little rest of a few days 
or weeks in the midst of vigorous practice in some art? 

7. If there is any trick of your early days, — such as tossing up 
several balls at the same time, — that you have not performed for 
years, try it now and compare your skill after just a little practice 
with the skill of your early performance. 

8. If knowledge is only to aid and guide in response, should we 
study in school branches, that which will never be of any practical 
use to us? 

9. Try the experiment of learning some trick by practicing fif- 
teen minutes a day while another person learns it by practicing 
thirty minutes a day, then try learning some other trick, reversing 
the length of practice periods. What do you learn from the 
experiment? 

10. What is the disadvantage of keeping a child in a grade that 
is too hard or too easy for him? 

11. Show how drill can be made incidental in various school 
branches. 

12. Give from your own experience methods that secure atten- 
tion and interest in drill work in the ditferent school subjects. 
Note that you have to rely upon some instinct or some strong 
acquired interest. 

13. Is it "teaching a dangerous doctrine" to say that it is diffi- 
cult to form habits late in life? 

14. Indicate the various aspects of a child's life that may be 
appealed to to get up initiative for the formation of the habit of 
prompt attendance at school. 

15. What devices have you used to keep in mind some act that 
you wished to make habitual? 

16. What value is there in committing to memory short sayings 



HABIT AND EDUCATION 163 

and associating them to certain acts that one wishes to make 
habitual? 

17. From the point of view of habit, what is the function of 
education? 

18. What branches in the high school involve the formation of 
habits that function generally in life? 

19. Name some habits that are fairly general in their applica- 
bility. 

20. Give illustrations to show that, strictly speaking, all habits 
are narrow and specific. 

21. Give from your experience illustrations to show the great 
harm caused by allowing exceptions to enter in the process of 
habit-formation. 

REFERENCES. 

Jilost of the references given at the end of the preceding chapter 
treat also of the relation of education to habit. See also : Rowo, 
Uabit Formation, 1909, Chs. vi-xiii ; P. Radestock, Habit and Its 
Importance in Education, translated by F. A. Caspari, 1886; 
W. F. Book, The R6le of the Teacher in the Most Expeditious 
and Economic Learning, in Journal of Educational Psychology, 
Vol. i, p. 183 ; also his Psychology of Skill, cited in the preceding 
list; E. J. Swift, Re-learning a Skillful Act, In Psych. Bui., 1907, 
Vol. vii, p. 17 ; also Learning to Telegraph, In Psych. Bui., Vol. vii, 
p. 149. 

On the General Effects of Special Exercise, see: S. H. Rowe, 
Habit-Formation, 1909, pp. 243-250 ; C. H. Judd, Relation of Special 
Training to General Intelligence, in Educational Review, Vol. 
xxxvi, p. 28 ; E. L. Thorndike and R. S. Woodworth, The Influence 
of Improvement in One Mental Function Upon the Efficiency of 
Other Functions, In Psychological Revieic, Vol. viii, p. 247 ; J. R. 
Angell, Formal Discipline in the Light of the Principles of General 
Psychology, in Educational Review, Vol. xxxvii, p. 1 ; Angell and 
Coover, General Practice Effect of Special Exercise, in American 
Journal of Psychology, xviii, p. 328; S. S. Colvin, The Learning 
Process, 1911, Chs. xiv, xv, xvi. 



Chapter XII. 
HABIT AND MORAL TRAINING.* 

Importance of the problem. — No educational prob- 
lem is more in need of solution just now than the 
problem of moral training. Teachers are asking for 
principles to guide them in their attempt to make 
good citizens out of their pupils. Parents are calling 
upon science for knowledge concerning the laws of 
mental and moral growth, and are looking to psy- 
chology in particular for information that will help 
them in training their children. Many people feel 
that the schools and colleges are not doing all that 
they can do for the moral development of the young 
people in them. And it is often said that the schools 
have made much greater progress in methods that 
lead to intellectual development than in methods of 
moral training. Now, there is some truth in these 
charges, and just in so far as there is truth in tbem, 
so far is education a failure. Education ought to 
give efficiency and control. Society demands of 
parents and the schools young people prepared to do 
something well, understanding the nature and rela- 
tions of her fundamental institutions, knowing how 
to do, each his part, in the great whole ; and, most im- 
portant of all, trained to do that part. The parents 
and schools have charge of the individual for about 
one-fourth of his life. Surely, then, society has the 



♦This chapter, in essentially Its present form, was first published 
in School and Home Education for February, 1910. 

1164] 



HABIT AND MORAL TEAINING 165 

right to demand that the individual be given sufficient 
training to prepare for reliable action in all the com- 
plex relations of life. 

Futility of recent discussions. — Recent discussions 
of the problem of moral training give little help to 
either parent or teacher. This is largely because the 
question has been approached from the wrong point 
of view. For the most part, the writers on this sub- 
ject concern themselves with religious, ethical and 
sociological discussions and speculations. Now, the 
question is not a matter of religion, and all that ethics 
and sociology can do is to establish the goal, set up 
the end, to be attained by moral training. But on 
this point there is already general agreement. 
Teachers know the kind of citizen that is desired. 
Every father knows what sort of man he would have 
his son become. What is wanted by both parents 
and teachers is information concerning the laivs of 
mental development, and methods of training 
planned in harmony with these laws, — methods that 
will lead to certain, definite, desirable action. 

Moral training and psychology. — The laws of men- 
tal development and methods of training planned in 
accordance with these laws are problems for psychol- 
ogy. It is to psychology that we must look for the 
help that everybody desires. What, then, has psy- 
chology to say? Before attempting an answer, it 
may be well to state a little more fully the aim of 
moral training. The question, of course, is: what 
shall be our criterion for morality? In a general way, 
we may say that a person has a good moral character 
who responds to all the various situations of life in 
a way conducive to the welfare of himself and soci- 



166 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

ety. Reduced to its simplest terms, this means ap- 
propriate response to stimuli, a proper co-ordination 
of action and perception. What this appropriate re- 
sponse, this proper co-ordination, is, society always 
has the right to say, and it says different things at 
different times. The moral ideal is a growth, is an 
evolution, just as all other educational ideals are; 
there is nothing absolute about it. The moral ideal 
is the conception that society has reached of the ac- 
tion of its members that will best lead to the good of 
the whole. This conception changes, but in any gen- 
eration it must be taken as the guide for the moral 
training of the young. There is nothing mysterious 
or mythological in the matter. Society demands — 
and has the right to demand — that its members be so 
trained that they will, as the occasion arises, imme- 
diately and regularly respond in a way beneficial to 
the general welfare. Given situations demand defi- 
nite types of action, definite responses. Considering 
the situation as the stimulus, we may say that the 
essence of moral training consists in co-ordinating 
with stimuli their appropriate responses. The prob- 
lem for psychology is to work out the laws of mental 
development, and, in the light of these laws, pre- 
scribe methods for the training of the young, to the 
end that they may reach the standard set up by 
society. 

Psychology is not able at present to give a com- 
plete solution to the problem, but it is able at least 
to indicate the nature of the solution. All that we 
have said in discussing instincts and habits applies 
to moral training in just the same way as it applies to 
other training. For psychology, moral training is 



HABIT AND MOBAL TBAINING 167 

the same sort of problem as that of training in gen- 
eral. It falls under the psychology of action. A per- 
son of good moral character is one who habitually 
does the right thing at the right time. Now, the na- 
ture of habitual action is that it is more or less reflex. 
Moral training, then, must seek to establish reflex 
responses to the various situations of life. One of 
the principles of action is that the more often a cer- 
tain movement follows upon a given stimulus, the 
more certainly and easily will it follow with each 
succeeding presentation of that stimulus. This is the 
nature of the problem of moral training as psychol- 
ogy sees it, and this, in outline, is the nature of the 
solution offered. 

Must be based on definite principles. — Methods of 
moral training must be based on established prin- 
ciples. These principles are, as we have already said, 
the laws of development. The child is the product of 
evolution, of ages of development, the result of long 
conflict with the forces of nature — with wind and 
storm, seas and mountains, burning heat and great 
continent-wide glaciers, with earthquakes and all 
manner of catastrophes. There has been also the 
conflict with the forms of life from the microscopic 
bacteria to the huge brutes of tho forest and jungle. 
And, too, there has been the struggle of man with 
man, the conflict of muscle and of wit. As the heri- 
tage of it all, we have the child of today. ''The soul 
is thus the product of heredity. As such, it has been 
hammered, moulded, shocked and worked by the 
stern law of labor and suffering into its present crude 
form. It is covered with scars and wounds not yet 
healed. It is still in the rough and patchworky, full 



168 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

of contradictions, although the most marvelous of all 
the products of nature." If we are to know how to 
train the child aright, we must know something of 
all this history and the kind of child finally be- 
queathed to the present. 

The child is born with a few co-ordinations of re- 
sponse to stimulus ready formed. As it grows older, 
many other inherited responses come into play. The 
child can not escape its ancestry. The hand of the 
past is upon it. And here our work begins. These 
inherited responses are our starting point. The first 
task of psychology, in ^he matter of moral training, 
is to establish the order and time of appearance of 
instincts, their relation to one another and to the 
environment. This we have endeavored to do in the 
earlier chapters. The principles of the inhibition of 
movement and the laws governing the formation of 
habits, also outlined in preceding chapters, are of 
great service here. 

The instincts and moral training. — One of the im- 
portant instincts available for moral training is imi- 
tation. When about one year of age the child tries to 
imitate everything it sees. The child does as it sees 
others do. It responds to situations as it sees 
others responding. If parents and companions swear 
when they strike their fingers instead of the nail, so 
does the child. If they, on certain occasions, respond 
with angry word or look, so does the child. The 
child's companions become its models for action. 
Therefore imitation, as the world long has known, 
is one of the most important factors available for 
moral training, as for all other forms of training. 

Not only must all the instincts be taken into ac- 



HABIT AND MORAL TBAINING 169 

count, but the whole nature of the developing child. 
The child should lead a natural, healthy life. He 
should be hammered and moulded by his environment 
much as his ancestors have been. To this end he 
should have provided a rich and varied environment. 
And really all that teachers and parents can do for 
him is to manipulate this environment. The child is 
to be taught as far as possible in nature's way. The 
child should know much of the natural environment : 
hill and valley, wood and stream, animal and plant, 
fishing, hunting, swimming and all sorts of out-door 
experiences and activities. The relations with com- 
panions should be many, varied and intimate. The 
child should learn, by experience, the natural conse- 
quence of action. The environment should be manip- 
ulated to this end, and only sufficiently to contribute 
to this end and to the formation of healthy habits of 
response. The manipulation of the environment 
must, then, have in view two things : 1. The child is 
to live a life rich in experience, many sided, full and 
complete ; 2. The child should always suffer the con- 
sequences of his action, in terms of pain and pleas- 
ure, deprivation and reward, loss of freedom and 
liberty. The child must find on every hand invaria- 
bility and absolute regularity. A lawful environ- 
ment means a lawful child. A lawful environment, 
however, is not one of punishment and harshness 
only. A large part of this environment should be 
love and sympathy, for the child is a creature of feel- 
ing and emotion as well as of will and action. Feel- 
ing and action are always most intimately associated, 
and it is quite as important to see that appropriate 
response reaps its reward in pleasure as to see that 



170 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

inappropriate response reaps its reward in pain. 
The close relation to nature is to be fostered in or- 
der to develop a healthy, natural animal as the basis 
of moral action. No actions are intrinsically bad; 
they should be judged by their results. Children, in 
their relations with one another, should learn the 
natural consequence of action, the natural results of 
given forms of conduct, and be allowed, as far as 
possible, to suffer this natural consequence, so that 
this result, this consequence, can have its due influ- 
ence in determining the next action in the same situ- 
ation, and so finally lead to the formation of the most 
desirable co-ordination of response and stimulus. If 
one picture to oneself the way in which conduct was 
determined among primitive men, one will get some 
notion of the way in which conduct should still be 
determined. Doubtless the hard knocks of primitive 
man in the fierce conflict with nature and with his 
fellows led to a very definite sort of response. The 
child's environment today should be allowed to work 
out a response no less definite. Every instinct is to 
be taken account of, some use can be made of every 
one of them. Even fear has its place, and in the nat- 
ural course of events will help in bringing about the 
desired co-ordination. Account must be taken of the 
instinct of play. In the early years of the child's 
life it will be of great service in revealing the nature 
of the world to the child and in securing for him a 
rich experience, which, as we have said above, is of 
so much importance. In later childhood and youth 
it will be of inestimable value in teaching the child 
how to live in the social organism, teaching him his 
place and the rights of his fellows. 



HABIT AND MORAL TRAINING 171 

Ideals of action. — Another principle available for 
moral trainingisthe tendency for action tofollowupon 
an idea. The idea of an action that has been per- 
formed will be followed by similar action unless an in- 
hibiting idea arises. In the presence of a given situ- 
ation the child will have an idea of an action that he 
has performed or has seen others perform under the 
same circumstances. The idea of the action is fol- 
lowed by the action. This is the beginning of the 
formation of a reflex response. With continued rep- 
etition of situation and response, the perception of 
the stimulus is followed by the response. It is this 
fact alone that gives any value to moral teaching, to 
developing ideals of action. The psychological prin- 
ciple involved is this: a child can be taught that a 
certain type of situation should give rise to a certain 
type of action. As a mere matter of memory, when 
such a situation arises, the individual remembers 
what sort of action is appropriate; the idea of the 
action goes over into the action itself. What we 
should say is that it may do it; the idea goes over to 
the act, provided there is no inhibiting idea. It is 
just the fact that there are practically alivays inhib- 
iting ideas that makes formal moral teaching of so 
little value. A child could be taught in a few hours 
the proper sort of actions for a whole lifetime. But 
afterward the child must have practice in following 
the idea up by the act, so that inhibiting ideas will 
not be able to interfere in the future. In fact, what 
holds with all other forms of training holds here with 
even greater force. It does not take long to learn 
the principles involved in any trade or art, but it 
takes a lot of practice to make one worth anything 



172 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

in their practice. So it does not take long to learn 
all the moral principles, but it takes a good deal of 
practice before the response and stimulus are very 
definitely connected. 

Inhibition. — The principle of inhibition is impor- 
tant. The first responses to a situation may lead to 
pain, and in the future the situation may call up the 
idea of the pain, and this idea of the pain serve to 
inhibit the sort of response given formerly, and a 
habit of action eventually be formed quite different 
from the first response. Much depends on first expe- 
riences. Almost any sort of response can be acquired 
for any situation. To draw an illustration from the 
instinct of fear, a child's reaction to the presence of 
a certain animal, say a dog, is determined by his first 
experience with that animal, and it may take a long 
time for different experiences to vary that type of 
response. All of the child's responses are subject 
to the same fortuitous determination. A little care- 
lessness on the part of parents relative to the early 
experience of children is apt to lead to the formation 
of habits of response that will require a world of 
trouble and patience to undo later. As a rule, no 
habituated response should be formed that must be 
radically undone later. 

Repetition and moral training. — Repetition under- 
lies habit, and habit is the basis of character. The 
continued repetition of the same response to the 
same stimulus fixes the co-ordination, makes it more 
and more certain and inevitable. It is this principle 
that makes any kind of training possible. During 
the period of plasticity of the psychophysical organ- 
ism it is relatively easy to establish almost any sort 



.7 HABIT AND MORAL TRAINING 173 

of co-ordination. "Without this principle of definite- 
ness of co-ordination as the result of repetition the 
formation of character would be impossible, for fix- 
ity would be impossible, and one could never know 
how any individual would act in any circumstance. 
We are, then, to take advantage of our knowledge of 
the nature of the child and of our power to manipu- 
late the child's environment in securing the repetition 
of the desired responses and, as a result of the repe- 
tition, the formation of definite types of action. 

In securing this necessary repetition parents and 
teachers must be the constant associates of the child, 
leading it through all the various environments and 
situations. The child gets the cue to his action from 
them and by repetition comes to do it naturally and 
as a matter of course. Pain, as the natural outcome 
of the violation of law, personal or social, is to aid 
in securing the appropriate response. The right re- 
sponse is the important thing, and must be secured 
by any and all means, sometimes even against the will 
of the child, and compelled by force if necessary. The 
appropriate response must be secured and continued 
until it follows as a matter of course. It must be 
pointed out that such a procedure necessitates that 
parents be the constant companions of their children. 
This they can not be if the father is entirely en- 
grossed with his business and the mother with teas 
and clubs. Some day we shall learn that the most 
important business of parents is the education and 
training of their children, through constant compan- 
ionship, help and sympathy. 

The school and the home in moral training. — And 
when the teacher undertakes a part of the work of 



174 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL. PSYCHOLOGY 

training the child he must proceed in accordance with 
the same principles. But too much has been turned 
over to the cchools, too much is expected of them. 
The home is the natural place for education, but the 
home has turned over, one after another, almost all 
of its responsibilities to the schools, and now parents 
censure the schools for not doing well the things that 
they themselves have shirked. The child has little 
business in school before the age of eight, and it is 
in the first eight years of its life that the foundations 
of moral training must be laid. If all is well done in 
these first eight years, there is little to do later, — • 
little exc3pt to keep the environment favorable for 
the development of the moral character, whose basis 
is already laid. The center of gravity of education 
must be shifted back to the home where it belongs, 
and parents must assume again the greater part of 
the responsibility for the moral training of their chil- 
dren. For this responsibility the parents must be 
trained. This business of rearing children should be 
in large measure the function of the mother, and for 
this great duty she should be especially prepared. 
"Women are crying for the ballot, for admission into 
all sorts of occupations and professions where they 
are not fitted by nature to be. Here is a work that 
would serve as an avenue for the expenditure of all 
their energy and ingenuity, a work than which there 
is no greater, to which they are by nature especially 
adapted. The whole education of women and all her 
professional training should be directed toward this 
end. This training and preparation should include 
a knowledge of physiology, hygiene and dietetic prin- 
ciples, nursing and the cure and prevention of dis- 



HABIT AND MORAL TRAINING 175 

ease, plumbing and everything connected with the 
sanitation of the home, genetic psychology and neu- 
rology, and everything that a scientific pedagogy can 
teach concerning the education of children, every- 
thing that art can teach her that will enable her to 
beautify the home. All this is for her professional 
training. For her cultural development she should 
have the same education as man. If woman will take 
over and solve this problem of the training and nur- 
ture of children, she will be doing her full share of 
labor for society, and should be relieved of her work 
as shop girl and typewriter. The schools can help 
in the work of moral training and have their share 
of the work to do, but the greater burden falls to the 
home, and will never be well done until it is well done 
there. 

Practical moral training. — Moral training is to 
begin with the birth of the child. It should begin 
with regularity in feeding, in exercise and in excre- 
tion. The child should early learn that this is a 
world of law and order. The lesson of absolute and 
implicit obedience should be learned early and 
learned well ; then other training comes more easily. 
As fast as the child meets the various situations of 
life and .is capable of responding to them, it should 
be led to make the correct response. Training can 
come early in such matters as personal hygiene, 
relation to other children and older people, polite 
behavior at the table and even in the general conduct 
of their lives. In all these matters the child should 
and can be taught to give immediately the proper 
response as the various occasions arise. These re- 
sponses can, by adequate repetition, be made certain 



176 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

and definite. To illustrate: A friend arrives, the 
child's hand extends in greeting; food is passed to 
the child; it responds with, "I thank you;" the child 
by accident steps on its neighbor's toes and responds 
with, ' * I beg your pardon ; ' ' the child gets some candy 
and puts away a piece ' ' to save for papa ; " a play- 
mate has an accident and is in pain; the child re- 
sponds with such aid and sympathy as it knows how 
to give. In all the various situations of life that con- 
front the child it is to be led by parents and teachers 
to make the proper response. By invariable repeti- 
tion these responses are to be reduced to the realm 
of habit, and are to fall largely under the control of 
the lower nerve centers. 

Most of the situations of childhood are simple, but 
the principle applies in the more complex relations 
of later life. Do we not know pretty well how our 
friends will act on any given occasion and in any sit- 
uation? To a considerable extent we do, and this is 
possible only because these friends have been re- 
sponding in a definite way to such situations all their 
lives, and it is not possible for them to act otherwise 
than as they do. It is this definite kind of response, in 
fact, that constitutes the chief difference between one 
man and another. Every individual establishes for 
himself certain forms of response; these become 
more and more automatic and mechanical ; they come 
to be a part of the man ; they are to be taken account 
of in our dealings with him, for they are the man. 
Now, if an individual is a "bundle of habits," if 
every one sooner or later acquires pretty definite 
modes of response to all the situations of life, the 
question of moral training becomes a very simple one 



HABIT AND MOEAL TRAINING 177 

in theory, however hard it may be to carry it out in 
practice. All that is required is to bring about on 
the part of the child the appropriate response, to 
lead to the formation of such a bundle of habits as 
will be most conducive to the welfare of the child and 
society. Moral training, as stated above, turns out 
to be of the same nature as training in general. Edu- 
cation as a whole becomes the formation of a 
"hierarchy of habits." AVe teach a child to say for 
two plus two, ' ' four ; ' ' for three plus two, ' ' five ; ' ' for 
two times four, ''eight," and so on. "VVe also teach 
him to observe closely, think accurately and speak 
correctly as matters of habit. In music, one learns 
when one sees a note on a certain part of the scale 
to strike a certain key on the piano, or to produce a 
certain tone with the voice. Similarly all training 
is a matter of bringing about on the part of the one 
trained definite, habitual responses for definite con- 
ditions and situations. 

It may be said that in reaching this conclusion we 
have made little progress, for the important thing is 
the method of forming these habitual responses. But 
surely it is worth while Imowing just what our prob- 
lem is. We ca-^ never solve it till we are sure of its 
nature. Once we are agreed that the essential of 
moral training is habitual response, more or less 
automatic, we shall be far on our way to the solution 
of the question of method. We have indicated above 
the nature of this solution. When our knowledge of 
the child is more complete, when we can trace better 
the order of development, we shall be able to pre- 
scribe pretty definitely the method of moral training. 

As our knowledge now stands, we can outline the 



178 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

essential features of the method, as indicated in the 
preceding paragraphs. It is also worth while know- 
ing that nothing new is to be expected. There is 
nothing new, strange or mythical that a commission 
or committee of investigation will be able to discover. 
The fundamental principles of moral training have 
been known as long as we have known anything. 
Neither parents nor teachers need expect the discov- 
ery of some new moral antiseptic, some new pink pill 
that can be administered three times a day before 
meals, and that will transform the children into little 
angels of conduct, thereby giving the parents relief 
from care and anxiety. Nothing will ever take the 
place of constant work and watchfulness on the part 
of parents. They should realise that nothing can 
take the place of a careful study of the principles 
involved, a full comprehension of the task, and daily 
and hourly watchfulness and care in carrying out 
these principles. 

The emotions, actions and character. — The moral 
training which we have in mind includes a proper 
control of the emotions, the development of endur- 
ance, bravery, sympathy, patience and self-control. 
All these characteristics are to be acquired as definite 
responses to definite situations. We want a race of 
men for whom crime will be impossible, not because 
of a moral precept that has been learned, but because 
I they have never committed crime and it is not in 
accord with their nature. It is important that early 
training make the individual a person of prompt ac- 
tion as soon as the nature of the situation is per- 
ceived. It is only to such a person that ideals and 
forms of action can be of any value. Whatever good 



HABIT AND MORAL TRAINING 179 

may come in later youth from the principles of morai 
action depends entirely on the previous formation of 
reflex responses. The tendency of the schools has 
been to separate knowing and doing, while the only 
reason that we need to know anything is that we may 
do something. One of the reasons that the schools 
have been doing so poorly in moral training is be- 
cause they have omitted acti\^ties from the course of 
study. Doubtless the failure of parents is in part 
due to the same cause. A generation ago most homes 
furnished plenty of activities to serve as a training 
school for the children. 

Objections considered. — Several objections might 
be raised against such a training as we have briefly 
outlined. It might be said that it would lead to ac- 
tion without principle, without motive, that the child 
would have no standards or forms of action. To this 
it may be replied that it is right action and not a 
knowledge of principles that is primarily desired. 
"VVe want men for whom stealing, lying, cruelty, 
drunkenness, unkindness shall be impossible, just as 
we want bad language and loose thinking to be im- 
possible for them, not because of the knowledge of 
principles of grammar and logic, but because they 
have always spoken correctly and thought clearly. 
The drunkard knows that it is wrong to get drunk, 
the thief knows that it is wrong to steal, the liar 
knows that he ought not to lie. The ragged tramp 
as he plods his way along the highway or railroad 
may have lofty ideals and visions fair, but these 
ideals and visions are never realised. The thing pri- 
marily desired is such a correlation of response and 
stimulus as will make crime impossible, a condition. 



180 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

that will make the ideal an effective stimulus to ac- 
tion that leads toward realisation. The only way to 
have such a condition is to make right and appropri- 
ate action habitual to men. Many mothers tremble 
in fear lest their sons go into saloons and become 
drunkards. It ought to be as easy to train a boy not 
to go into saloons and other places of immorality as 
it is for the hunter to train his bird dog not to chase 
rabbits. Many parents could learn much from dog- 
trainers. The physiological and psychological prin- 
ciples of action are the same for man and beast. We 
do not mean to say that general principles and rules 
of action are not important, but they are secondary, 
not primary. They will follow naturally upon a 
course of training that makes the formation of habit 
the basis. As the child grows older and remembers and 
reasons, he comes to generalise on his actions and 
their results. These memories and generalisations 
enter into future conditions and situations, and be- 
come part of the motive, part of the stimulus to 
action. 

It might also be objected that it is impossible to 
train an individual so thoroughly that he will be pre- 
pared for all the varied and complex situations of 
later life. But this objection will not hold. If pa- 
rents and teachers have had the right relation to the 
child till maturity is reached, adjustments of re- 
sponse to situation will be formed in about all the 
normal situations of life. Moreover, if a novel situ- 
ation should arise in later life, the individual is then 
a person of memory and reason, as was pointed out 
above; the situation is immediately compared with 
past situations ; it becomes a stimulus like such-and- 



HABIT AND MORAL TRAINING 181 

sucli-a-oiie ; the appropriate response appears imme- 
diately, provided there is a sufficient habit-hasis 
back of it. 

It might be further objected that it is not desir- 
able to reduce conduct to the realm of habit ; that we 
should seek, on the contrary, to preserve plasticity. 
The obvious reply is that in the matter of character 
the less plasticity, the better for society. The trouble 
with us now is that we are too plastic. We steal one 
day and lie the next. Where there is plasticity in 
moral character there is chaos in society. What we 
need morally is fixity. There should be no place for 
plasticity when it comes to matters of crime and sin. 
If we desire that good action should become natural 
to men, we must make it first a matter of habit, a 
matter of reflex response. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR FUBTHER STUDY. 

1. Keep a record of your moral acts for a week, indicating 
those that you think right and those you consider wrong. Why are 
they right? Why wrong? Why did you do the right acts? Why 
the wrong acts? 

2. Make a list of the ten best men that you know and a list of 
the ten worst men you know. What is the basis of your classifica- 
tion? Do the bad men in your list know what is right as well as 
do the good men? 

3. Enumerate the differences between the typical good man and 
the typical bad man of your above lists. How many of these dif- 
ferences are there? How long would it take to teach the moral 
principles involved, — teach them as mere facts? 

4. Make a list of the moral principles that you think an ideal 
man should follow. How few principles will they reduce to, and 
how long would it take to teach them thoroughly to a child? 

.5. Do not such considerations as the above make it plain that 
although the teaching of moral principles may be important, it is 
insignificant in comparison with the importance of habituation? 

6. Is not a person who knows what good conduct is, but has not 
been trained to do it as a matter of habit, very much like a person 
who knows how to add and subtract, multiply and divide, but can 
not solve a single problem without making mistakes because he has 
not habituated the processes? 



182 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

7. Give from your experience illustrations showing the impor- 
tance of regularity and uniformity In forming a moral habit. 

8. Try to observe the training of childx'en in their homes ; report 
the procedure of parents that seem to understand the laws of habit 
formation and of some who do not. 

9. Give from experience or observation instances of the viola- 
tion by teachers of the laws of habit formation as applied to morals. 

10. Can you prove that mere knowledge of the right is not suffi- 
cient basis for moral action? 

11. Do you think we need to worry about a man's ideals if he 
always does the right as a result of habituation? 

12. Sometimes the children of preachers go wrong, — children 
that have been preached to and prayed for daily for twenty years. 
If you know of any such case, can you explain it? 

13. What can the school do for a boy fourteen years old, normal 
mentally and physically, but who has had no moral training, and 
as a result lies, steals, etc.? If you have ever observed such a case, 
describe the treatment and the results. 

14. Show that in the very same family the children may have 
the same knowledge of right and wrong, but that some are very 
much better than others so far as actions are concerned. Why 
Is this? 

15. A few years ago the author went to a town to give a lecture 
to a body of teachers. The next morning he found the people 
excited and threatening mob violence. A prominent minister of 
the town had been put into jail because of a serious crime. The 
man knew the right, for he had been teaching it to his flock. Why 
did he not do the right? 

16. From your own experience, can you say that the careful 
study of mathematics or science will have anything to do with one's 
moral actions? 

17. When you have the opportunity as a teacher, try to find 
evidence of the moral eflfects of school studies. Try to discover 
the moral effects of the study of literature or history. Is such 
effect a myth or a fact? Does the manner of teaching have any- 
thing to do with it? 

18. Has any teacher ever had a great moral influence upon your 
life? If so, describe the matter in detail, giving your age and the 
exact nature of the moral influence. 

19. Carefully consider the moral influence of your father and 
mother upon your life. Work it out definitely, considering methods 
and results. 

20. Have you ever observed in your own life or the lives of 
others any definite moral influence from nature study? 

21. Is it possible to do very much in the high school in the way 
of moral training unless it is based on admiration for, and imita- 
tion of, a strong, forceful, upright teacher? Without such a 
teacher, would the formal study of ethics have much more value 
than a microscopic study of earthworms? 



HABIT AND MORAL TRAINING 183 

22. Discuss the relation of religious belief to moral practice. 

23. How can parents be made to see that the main work of 
moral training must fall upon them? And how is it possible for 
the modern home to do its proper work in this regard? 

24. Suppose you are a mathematics teacher in a city high 
school. What can you do in the way of moral training? Answer 
from experience, if possible. 

25. Have you ever known of a case in which a home has been 
revolutionised morally through the influence of the school? If so, 
report in full. 

26. Do you think religion necessary in moral training? Give 
the evidence to support the position that you take. 

27. If a systematic course in history and mathematics is neces- 
sary, why is not a systematic course in ethics necessary? 

28. Work out fully the moral influence that may come from the 
group games of youth. 

29. Do you believe that the personal relations of teacher and 
pupils are more important for moral training than formal teaching 
of ethics? 

30. What plan of building up a moral character was success- 
fully followed by Benjamin Franklin? Does this give us any idea 
as to the proper kind of moral training? 

REFERENCES. 

F. Adler, Moral Instruction of Children, 1892 ; G. A. Coe, Educa- 
tion in Religion and Morals, 1904; G. E. Dawson. The Child and 
His Religion, 1909; C. DeGarmo, Ethical Training in the Public 
tScJionls, in A^nerican Academy of Political and Social Science, No. 
•]9 ; Principles of Secondary Education, Vol. iii. Ethical Training, 
1911: J. Dewey, Moral Principles in Education, 1909; Teaching 
Ethics in the High School, in Educational Revietv, Vol. vi, p. 313; 
E. O. Sisson, The Essentials of Character, 1910; E. E. Kellogg, 
Studies in Character Building, 1905; H. T. Mark. The Teacher and 
the Child; M. E. Sadler, Moral Instruction and Training in Scfiool, 
1908 ; E. P. St. John, Stories and Story-Telling in Moral and Re- 
ligious Education, 1910 ; IT. Spencer. Education, Intellectual, Moral 
and Physical, 1894, still worth reading; D. S. Jordan, Nature Study 
and Moral Culture, N. E. A., 1890, p. 130; G. Stanley Hall. The 
Moral and Religious Training of Children and Adolescents, in Ped. 
Sent., Vol. i. p. 196; Moral Education and Will Training, in Ped. 
Sem., Vol. ii, p. 72; G. E. Dawson, A Study in Youthful Degen- 
eracy, in Ped. Sem., Vol. iv, p. 221 ; Mrs. F. Schoff, The Home as 
the Basis of Civic, Social and Moral Uplift, in Ped Sem., Vol. xvi, 
p. 473; D. Mussey, The Ideals of Ethical Culture for Children, in 
Ped. Sem., Vol. xvl, p. 513; G. E. Meyers. Moral Training in the 
School, in Ped Sem., Vol, xiii, p. 409 ; J. F. Rogers, Physical and 



184 THE OUTLINES 0^ EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

Moral Training, in Ped. 8em., Vol. xvi, p. 301; L. W. Kline, A 
Study in Juvenile Ethics, in Ped. Sem., Vol. x, p. 239 ; L. D. Arnett, 
Origin and Development of Home and Love of Home, in Ped. 
Sem., Vol. ix, p. 324 ; E. J. Swift, Mind in the Making, 1908, Ch. ii ; 
M. V. O'Shea, Social Development and Education, 1909, pp. 265- 
272 ; H. Miinsterberg, Psychology and the Teacher, 1909, Chs. xx 
and xxiv ; E. A. Kirkpatrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, Ch. xi ; 
E. F. Young, Ethics in the School, 1902 ; E. H. Griggs, Moral Edu- 
cation, 1904; E. A. Sharpe, Foundation Stones of Success, 1910, in 
three large volumes, containing abundant material for use in devel- 
oping moral ideals. 



Chapter XIII. 
MEMORY. 

Meaning of memory. — Experiment seems to re- 
veal two kinds of images : (1) One that has an asso- 
ciative setting, which gives a feeling of familiarity 
with it, and (2) an image without any associative 
setting, and therefore lacking any accompanying 
feeling of familiarity. The former is called a mem- 
ory image, the latter an image of imagination. The 
term memory is used not only to designate this par- 
ticular kind of image as distinct from the image of 
imagination, but is also used in the same sense as the 
term retention. When we speak of the accuracy or 
fidelity of memory we mean that the image or idea 
represents accurately the original impression. If 
our memory is accurate, our idea of a past experi- 
ence agrees accurately with that experience. On the 
other hand, when we speak of a good memory or poor 
memory we have reference rather to the retention; 
we mean that retention is good or retention is poor. 
If today we can not recall any of the experiences of 
yesterday, then we say that our memory is poor, 
meaning that the impressions are not retained. In 
general, then, we shall use the term as the name of a 
kind of image and also as synonymous with the fact 
of retention of images or ideas. In the former sense 
it is the name of a definite kind of complex mental 
process ; in the latter it is the name of a physical or 
psychophysical fact. For what is retained is doubt- 

[185] 



186 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

less some modification of the nervous system, which 
is the basis of the brain process underlying the mem- 
ory image. 

Experimental studies. — Experimental studies of 
memory have been in progress for twenty-five years, 
and the main facts are fairly well determined and 
our knowledge of the various aspects and conditions 
of memory is tolerably accurate and complete. The 
divergent conclusions reached in certain fields are 
due, in the main, to differences in methods and con- 
ditions of experimentation. The main problem of 
experimental work has been the determination of the 
relation of memory to age, sex, intelligence, form and 
manner of presenting the material, ideational type, 
rapidity of learning, kind of material, and num- 
ber of repetitions. Other problems have been the 
question of improvement of the memory, the condi- 
tions of good memory, the most economical methods 
of learning, and the function of the teacher in the 
process of memorising. We shall proceed to set 
forth the results of the experimental work in the 
various fields and indicate the significance of these 
results for education. 

Relation of memory to age and sex. — It is the pop- 
ular opinion that the memory of childhood is supe- 
rior to that of any later period of life, but this seems 
not to be the case, for memory improves up to ado- 
lescence and possibly to maturity. The immediate 
memory span for digits improves from five in the 
early school years to seven in the later school years. 
Nor does memory decline later. The memory of 
adults remains as good as at any earlier period of 
life, at least till general mental decline sets in, al- 



MEMORY 187 

though there are no experimental studies of the 
memory of old age. This improvement with age, 
however, turns out to be more a matter of immediate 
memory than of permanent retention. Some studies 
show that the child retains about as much relatively 
of what he learns as does the adult, but he can not 
grasp as much, can not learn as much, and this may 
be due to the fact that experience, increased knowl- 
edge, enhances the ability to learn. There is some 
evidence that memory, or at least some aspects of 
memory, reaches its greatest efficiency at about the 
beginning of adolescence. It seems, for example, 
that poetry can be committed to memory by pupils 
of this age better than at any other time. This may 
be connected with the fact of universal interest in 
poetry at this age, which prompts so many boys and 
girls to write poetry at this time. 

Most experimental studies of memory that have 
taken account of differences due to sex have found 
that the memory of girls was better than that of boys, 
although it is somewhat dependent upon the nature 
of the material memorised, boys sometimes excelling 
in rote memory for names of concrete things and for 
real objects. Girls also excel in logical memory. In 
tests of public school children conducted by the au- 
thor it was found that the girls excelled in logical 
memory at every age from nine to fifteen with the 
single exception of the age eleven, when the boys and 
girls made practically the same record. That the 
memory of girls should be rather uniformly better 
than that of boys is a curious and interesting fact 
that awaits explanation. 



188 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 



40 



35 



30 



25 



20 



Age Memonj Curve 




. A^e 



10 II IZ 13 14 IS 16 17 18 



The Improvement of logical memory with age is shown by the rise of the 
curves. The material used for the test was The Marble Sto<M«,— Whipple'^ 
Manual, p. 347, About 300 children of each age were tested. 



MEMORY 189 

Improvement of memory by practice. — Some psy- 
chologists have held that our native brute retention, 
being mechanical in nature and having its basis in 
the nervous system, can not therefore be altered by 
anything we can do. It may be true that the ultimate 
physiological basis of memory can not be improved 
by practice, but practice certainly improves the im- 
mediate memory both for nonsense and meaningful 
material. But here, again, it may be more a matter 
of increased ability to learn than increased ability 
to retain. However, the relative retention is im- 
proved just as much as the learning capacity is in- 
creased. But there is some correlation between 
learning and retaining, and, on the whole, the experi- 
mental work rather favors the idea that there is at 
least a slight improvement of retention with prac- 
tice. In some extended experiments conducted by the 
author, subjects actuallyretained a larger percentage 
of what was learned after practice of three months. 
The ability to learn was increased in this time about 
four times. We can not, of course, be sure that in 
the latter case the matter was not learned better 
than in the former. It amounts to the same thing in 
the end whatever be the actual function improved. 
The simple fact is that by practice one can greatly 
improve his ability to get and hold facts; for ex- 
ample, in the experiment mentioned above, a student 
by daily practice, in three months time, was able to 
learn in fifteen minutes the ideas contained in about 
250 words of thought material. This task before 
practice required an hour, and the facts were re- 
tained better in the fast learning than in the slow, 
in the ratio of 9 to 8. 



190 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

The conditions affecting retention. — What heredi- 
tary factors cause the native individual dilferences 
in memory capacity we do not know, but, apart from 
the fact of individual differences, the factors influ- 
encing memory are, (1) the character of the initial 
impression, (2) the number of attentive repetitions, 
and (3) the nature and number of associations. 

The first impression. — The nature of an impression 
can vary in many ways, but its clearness and affect- 
ive values are most important for memory. The im- 
pression that is clear and vivid and that has a great 
pleasure or pain accompaniment is best remembered. 
An individual is most deeply impressed by those 
things and processes that touch vital interests, that 
are significant for the life of the individual. The 
teacher can therefore save much tima usually spent 
in repetitions by making the conditions of first pres- 
entation as good as possible. To this end, the child 
must be prepared for the material and the material 
for the child. The child must have had sufficient ex- 
perience to understand and appreciate the new ideas ; 
moreover, the situation should usually be such that 
he really demands the new material, — needs it and 
is eager for it. And, on the other hand, the material, 
the new ideas, must be naturally and logically pre- 
sented with due regard to concreteness, to explana- 
tion and elaboration. If not understood, the new 
idea can make little impression, and will therefore 
be poorly retained. 

The number of repetitions. — The value of repeti- 
tion for memory is much the same as for habituation. 
Liability to recall doubtless has the same neural 
basis as has the relation of response to stimulus in 



MEMORY 



191 



habit. Eepeating an experience, thinking our 
thought over again, fixes the neural conditions on 
which retention and recall depend. Experiments 
show that, within limits, the greater the number of 
attentive repetitions, the better the retention. If, for 
example, a series of nonsense syllables is learned 
on one day, they can be re-learned on the next day 
with a saving of one-third of the time, and if they are 
repeated twice as many times on the first day as are 
necessary for a perfect reproduction, then there is a 
saving of two-thirds of the learning time on the fol- 
lowing day. But the repetitions are not all of equal 
value for retention. The first few repetitions, and 
particularly the first one, for most people prove of 
more value than succeeding repetitions. The degree of 
attention is probably the most important factor here ; 
if a high degree of attention can be maintained, then 
the repetitions doubtless will have a higher value for 
retention, at least till fatigue begins to interfere. 
Repetition at any time is of little value in fixing an 
impression, unless the process is in a high degree of 
attention. The same rule, in fact, applies to repeated 
impressions that applies to the first impression, and 
the fact that after the first impression the thing is no 
longer new and has lost some of its freshness may 
account for the decreasing influence of the later pres- 
entations. And it is this loss of interest after the 
newness has worn off a process that presents the chief 
problem in drill work. How can the same material 
be presented again so as to have the value of an 
initial impression? The problem is easier here than 
it is in the case of habituation, for there is greater 
possibility of variation. Ideas can be re-presented 



192 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

under all sorts of new conditions and combinations 
and from different points of view. They can enter 
into a generalisation, a deduction, an application. 
Such repetition becomes quite as valuable sometimes 
as the first presentation. 

The value of associations. — If one learns a series 
of nonsense syllables and a verse of poetry, the latter 
is much better retained, because of the fact that it 
has meaning. That anything has meaning is a mat- 
ter of association, of past experience. The nonsense 
syllables are associated together in a series, but 
there is nothing else to help hold them, whereas the 
words in the verse of poetry revive abundant asso- 
ciations apart from the fact that one word follows 
another in the lines. These old associations lay hold 
of and re-enforce the words in memory. A verse of 
poetry first presented is not something really new 
in the same sense that the nonsense syllables are new 
to experience. In fact, there is very little, if any- 
thing, in the verse of poetry that is new to experi- 
ence. If there is, and especially if there is very much 
that is new, then it approaches the nonsense syllables 
in difficulty of memorising. The richer in association 
an idea is, the better it is retained and the greater is 
its liability of recall. The proper sort of repetition, 
of review, of organisation, serves to increase and to 
fix these associations. These factors are all much 
affected by the individual's physical condition. In 
fact, every aspect of learning and memory is deli- 
cately dependent upon the physical state of the sub- 
ject. The effects of illness and fatigue become imme- 
diately evident in decreased capacity to learn and 
remember. 



MEMORY 193 

Economical learning. — (1) Commiting to mem- 
ory. It has been proved by experiment that the most 
economical way to commit to memory, say a poem, is 
to read the poem through from beginning to end, as a 
whole, and to continue to re-read it through in the 
same way till it is completely learned. It is not eco- 
nomical to divide the poem up into little units and 
learn these separately. And this is true whatever 
the length of the poem, at least up to one 240 lines in 
length, — the longest unit yet studied. Two of the 
most important factors in making this procedure the 
most economical are: (a) There is no time lost in 
cementing together the different parts and unlearn- 
ing the associations of the last line of a unit with the 
first line of that unit, as fixed by repeating the part 
separately, and (b) when the poem is read through 
as a whole, some parts of the whole all along are 
learned from the beginning and their fixation sets 
in from the start. In the case of a long poem that 
must be learned by several sittings there is much 
sub-conscious fixing that goes on between times, and 
if the poem is read through, this affects equally the 
whole poem. This principle applies only to verbatim 
learning, and we are not, perhaps, justified in making 
any inferences concerning the learning of ideas apart 
from verbal learning. This point must be settled by 
direct experimentation. "We do have some knowl- 
edge, however, of the most economical distribution 
of time in committing to memory that will perhaps 
apply to the learning of ideas. If we have to learn 
something too long to commit to memory at one sit- 
ting, say 60 lines of poetry, the best procedure is to 
read it through twice at one sitting and repeat daily 



194 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

till the matter is learned. Of course, if one is to 
learn a thing, and must learn it as soon as possible, 
he can not consider the most economical distribu- 
tion of time, and must therefore learn it even though 
at a great loss of time as compared to the most eco- 
nomical procedure. Another element also enters in 
in favor of the short unit. In a short unit one can 
learn perfectly a short stanza in a little time, while 
if the whole poem is read through it is some time be- 
fore any of it can be repeated, and the learner seems 
to be making no progress, and a person, particularly 
a child, prefers to work in such a way that immediate 
results can be seen, and telling him to read on and by 
and by he will know the poem is very much like tell- 
ing him to work on and by and by he may be Presi- 
dent. Eemote ends do not appeal to a child. A few 
demonstrations of the best procedure might, how- 
ever, make even the child willing to work by the most 
economical method. 

(2) The best memory material. Memory for ob- 
jects is much better than memory for words, and for 
most people memory for concrete words is much bet- 
ter than for abstract words, memory for meaningful 
words is better than for nonsense or meaningless 
words. The most effective teaching, therefore, keeps 
near to the concrete reality. We should study the 
actual object when possible. When this is not pos- 
sible, then the best possible representation of the 
object. Abundant demonstration and illustration are 
a part of all good teaching. And it is always a sav- 
ing of time to spend it helping pupils to get clear, 
definite and accurate conceptions of reality. By do- 



MEMORY 195 

ing this we save much time that we should otherwise 
have to spend in repetitions. 

(3) Cramming. As already pointed out, there 
seems to be at least a slight positive correlation be- 
tween quick learning and good retention. Experi- 
ment settles, at any rate, that the contrary opinion, 
namely, that the slow learner retains the best, is not 
by any means a universal truth. The quick learner 
must necessarily possess the factors that make for 
good retention. He works under favorable condi- 
tions of attention and interest that are also factors 
of good retention. It must be that the impressions 
are deeper and the associations better for the quick 
learner. This favors retention. The fast learner 
gets his subject matter more as a unity, more as one 
piece, — he sees it whole, while the slow learner has 
forgotten the beginning before he has spelled his 
way to the end. Such, at any rate, is our interpreta- 
tion of the experimental fact that the fast learner not 
only retains absolutely more than does the slow 
learner, but, at least in some cases, relatively more 
than does the slow learner. Experiment is confirmed 
by the general observation that he who can read a 
book at the highest rate of speed gets most out of the 
book. This need not mean that the fast reader profits 
most by the reading of the book. If the cause of the 
slow reading be to ponder over the matter and think 
it out more clearly in all its consequences, then, of 
course, the slow reading is more profitable ; but this 
is another matter. 

What, then, about cramming? Professor Titch- 
ener is right in saying that there are two forms of 
cramming, — good and bad. There are at least two 



196 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

forms of cramming that are legitimate: (1) At the 
end of a course of study, after a student has carefully 
worked out all the details of the course separately, a 
rapid survey of these parts as making a whole is of 
great benefit. It cements the parts together and 
gives them a higher meaning. Such a review is val- 
uable both as a form of repetition and in giving 
really new associations. The facts are seen in per- 
spective, and therefore are seen in their proper pro- 
portion and importance. But in saying this we as- 
sume that the facts have been carefully learned. The 
student who neglects his work during term-time and 
hopes to make up by a few hours of concentrated 
effort at the end can not hope to stand with the per- 
son who has been learning and organising the matter 
throughout the term, and especially is this true if 
the latter also makes use of a final organisation or 
review. A careful re-survey of a course at its end 
is often of as much worth as any other equal amount 
of time spent on the course. (2) Cramming is also 
a legitimate procedure in the organisation of a mass 
of subject matter for a particular occasion after 
which there will be no need for its use. One such 
occasion that a student meets is the passing of an 
examination, — such as is too often given, — an exami- 
nation that calls for a lot of isolated, unrelated, un- 
important details. To meet such an occasion, a stu- 
dent is justified in resorting to the cramming process. 
But such an examination can have no justification; 
it has no proper place in a scheme of education. 

(4) Ideational types. There seems some evidence 
that an individual learns best material suited to his 
type of ideation. An auditorily minded person 



MEMOBY 197 

learns best a material that appeals to auditory imag- 
ery ; the visually minded person, a material that ap- 
peals to visual imagery. But the manner of presen- 
tation, i. e., whether through eye or ear, depends 
much on acquired habit and interest. For in the case 
of meaningful material, in whatever form it is pre- 
sented, it is worked over, interpreted, according to 
one's mental constitution and habits. But there are 
individual differences and preferences for certain 
forms of presentation, and also differences due to 
age. In the earlier years of school life auditory 
presentation is better, but by the age of nine the 
visual method begins to prove the better and im- 
proves much more than does the auditory. Some 
investigators have found that if the material to be 
learned is presented through more than one sense, it 
is better learned and retained. If the matter is read 
to the children, and they are also allowed to see it, 
and in addition also to write or in some way to repro- 
duce it, as by speaking it aloud or silently, then it 
is better learned. Such methods of presentation 
probably have the same value as repetition, for that 
is about what they amount to. They not only make 
a better initial impression, but may make better asso- 
ciations as well. 

Transfer of memory training. — After one has im- 
proved his capacity to get and retain ideas in a cer- 
tain field, does this increase his capacity in other 
fields? The result of the most careful experiments 
up to the present time indicate that the result of 
such practice and training is rather narrow and spe- 
cific. If, for example, a person is practiced in learn- 
ing and retaining numbers, this does not help much 



198 THE OUTLrlNES OF EDUCATIONAL PSllCHOLOGT 

in learning letters and figures. Or, if one is prac- 
ticed in learning meaningful material, it does not 
help much in learning nonsense material. There are 
certain habits that function in learning and memory. 
These habits are specific, but they may be considered 
general in so far as the situations and procedures 
in learning are measurably similar. It would 
be, perhaps, nearer the truth to say that all habits 
are specific, but that some of the situations in which 
a habit is applicable are universal. There are cer- 
tain physical conditions of attending and learning, 
more or less under the subject's control, that are 
much the same in all learning, and therefore drill in 
one form gives efiiciency in all the others. In the 
learning of nonsense material, and to some extent 
in all rote memory, where the main factor is vivid- 
ness of impression, getting these favorable condi- 
tions for impression is about all that contributes to 
improvement. But in the case of logical material 
there are many other factors. There are habits of 
procedure to be acquired, habits of organising and 
fixing the ideas, and, in addition, there is an increase 
of familiarity with the subject matter that improves 
the learning and memory capacity in that particular 
kind of subject matter. The latter would not be of 
service in unrelated matter, but the habits of pro- 
cedure in learning logical matter doubtless have 
more or less general application, so that there is 
such a thing as learning how to learn. But it is not 
a matter of transfer of training, nor is it a matter 
of general habits, but is merely a case of acquiring 
habits whose conditions and situations occur in all 
learning. 



MEMORY 199 

The relation of memory to intelligence. — Tlie rela- 
tion of memory to learning capacity lias been pointed 
out. What is the relation of memory to general in- 
telligence? What is the relation of memory to class 
standing? Experimental results are somewhat di- 
vergent, but it seems clear that when logical memory 
tests are carefully made, and when class standing is 
determined by any adequate method, a fairly high 
degree of correlation between students' standing as 
determined by a memory test and their class stand- 
ing will be found. A very close relation could not be 
expected, because there are many factors that deter- 
mine class standing, memory being only one of these 
factors. Even ability to learn is not a sufficient index 
of class standing, for ability to learn must be coupled 
with desire and willingness to learn. With other 
things equal, an efficient memory gives a student a 
great advantage. Habits of learning and habits of 
work are very important elements in determining 
scholarship. It often happens that a person who is 
quick to learn and has a reliable memory is a poor 
student, because, knowing that he learns readily, he 
leaves his learning to the last moment and allows no 
time for repetition, for more thorough organisation, 
so that the person with inferior ability, but better 
habits of work, will excel in class work. However, 
the verp best students are those who are gifted by 
nature in ability to learn and remember, and who, in 
addition, have good habits of work. In a large class 
careful experiment will always prove this true. 

The function of the teacher in memory work. — 
Here, as in the case of habit formation, one of the 
main functions of the teacher is to correct mistakes 



200 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

If 




IV V Y[ Mil 

The diagram shows the relation of logical memory ia intelligence. The 
number of school grade is represented on the horizontal axis, and the num- 
ber of ideas retained on the vertical axis. When children of the same age 
are found distributed through •everal grades, those in the higher grades 
have the better memory. 



MEMOBT 201 

in the early stage of memorisation. When a student 
sets to work to learn the ideas in a paragraph or page 
of a book, the first reading may give him some wrong 
or incorrect ideas, and it often happens that further 
reading does not disclose these mistakes to the 
learner, for on successive readings the thing is likely 
to come with the same meaning as at first, so that the 
learner is powerless to correct his mistake. Further 
reading is not only time lost, so far as getting the 
correct interpretation is concerned, but serves to fix 
the wrong ideas. The teacher's function here is to 
use every possible precaution to see that the correct 
idea is got at the beginning, at the initial reading, 
before repetition has firmly fixed the wrong idea. A 
second function of the teacher is to determine the 
learning capacity and memory efficiency of the dif- 
ferent pupils and direct their work in accordance 
with these facts. The child of quick learning ca- 
pacity must be taught to take care not to omit proper 
repetition and organisation, while the slow learner 
must be taught to work at the highest point of con- 
centration and told that on no account can he afford 
to neglect the repeated attacks. He should be taught 
to take advantage of several attacks on a task at 
different times, and not to depend on long continued, 
ineffectual repetitions that do not have proper con- 
ditions of attention and interest. If the pupils of 
different learning capacity must work together, then 
the bright ones should be given enough more work 
in the same subject or in other subjects so that the 
two will be on something near an equality. It seems 
hardly possible to make a greater mistake in the 
school room than to proceed on the assumption of 



202 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

equal capacity in all the pupils. It seems probable 
that every individual has a definite coefficient of 
learning capacity that is fairly constant. A teacher 
should know, and know with some degree of exact- 
ness, what this coefficient is in the various pupils. 
There is just as much need for the teacher to know 
the learning coefficient of his pupils as there is for 
the engineer to know the efficiency of his engines and 
machines. The knowledge is necessary for wise ac- 
tion in each case. A knowledge of the individual's 
ideational type and other individual peculiarities will 
also be of help to the teacher in determining what 
forms of material and presentation to use and in un- 
derstanding the different results of instruction on the 
different pupils. Not only do the same impressions 
receive different interpretations by different pupils, 
but they bring about different reactions, receive dif- 
ferent evaluations and take different places in the 
permanent, organised knowledge of the individuals. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY. 

(The various forms of tests can be given to the class as a whole 
by the instructor.) 

1. Make a brief studj of the relation of memory to age as fol- 
lows : Make out lists of concrete and abstract words, one complete 
set of each, (See p. 204.) Have four, five, six, seven, eight, nine 
and ten words in the respective lists of concrete words and the 
same for the abstract words. Give the test by pronouncing the 
words and having each list reproduced in writing immediately after 
it is given. Use only words whose meaning is known to those 
tested. Do you find an improvement with age as stated in the 
chapter? 

2. Test the logical memory of children of different ages by using 
a short simple story. Give the test by reading the story to the 
children and requiring them to write down immediately the ideas 
remembered. The story can be divided up into ideas or units, and 
the reproduction of the idea of each unit, not the exact words, is 
what is required. Do your results correspond to those obtained 
from the first test? 



MEMORY 203 

3. Compare your own memory for various kinds of material 
with the memory of some one else in the class. 

4. Compare the time that is required for you to learn 15 non- 
sense syllables with the time required to learn 15 English words 
whose meaning is known to you. Have another person prepare 
the words and syllables. The words should be of one syllable and 
the nonsense syllables should have three letters each, — a *;onsouant, 
then a vowel, then a consonant. Learn each list by reading it 
through yourself from beginning to end. Count the number of 
readings required for learning, and consider the list learned when 
you can say it through without looking at the words, at the same 
rate that you use for learning them. Which list requires the 
longer time? 

5. If you have ever tried to commit to memory a Latin poem, 
you probably found it very difficult. Why? 

6. Report from your experience or observation a case of poor 
teaching, — poor for the reason that the pupils did not understand 
the meaning of the matter presented. 

7. Give instances of undue amount of repetition required be- 
cause of poor initial impressions. 

8. Have j'ou ever used any kind of memory device? If so, what 
was it and what was its value? 

9. Compare the method of learning by wholes with the method 
of learning by parts, by finding a simple poem and learning about 
30 lines by each method. You will perhaps need to perform the 
experiment several times and take the average for each method. 
If the material used is very even and your condition is maintained 
uniform, a few tests will be sufficient. The matter may be tested 
out on the class as a whole by the instructor. The class can be 
divided into two equal parts by lot or on the basis of tests. One 
half can then use the one method and the other half the other 
method, and the results can be compared. If this group method is 
used, great care must be used to have the work done under uniform 
conditions. — the same time of day, the same rate of reading, the 
same criterion of perfect learning, etc. 

10. You can test the value of attentive repetitions by learning 
a few stanzas under f lod conditions of attention with the time 
required for learning a similar number when good attention is 
Impossible, — say, in a room where several people are talking. 

11. An experiment similar to the above can be performed on the 
class as a whole by the instructor as follows : The members of the 
class can spend five minutes on a paragraph in this book that has 
not been read, then five minutes on another paragraph of equal 
length. While one paragraph is being read, distractions may be 
furnished by a metronome and an electric bell. The experiment 
should be repeated a few times and the averages taken for each 
of the two procedures. 

12. Some time is required for proving that memory improves 
with practice for the material and method used, but an hour of 



204 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 



hard practice a day for a week ought to show improvement The 
question of the transfer of the training can be determined by test- 
ing the memory for various forms of material and method before 
and after the memory training. These tests should be with con- 
crete and abstract words, digits, objects, pictures, and different 
forms of material in connected thought. Do not expect your experi- 
ment to be worth anything unless it is done with the greatest of 
care. 

13. The above experiment could be performed by the class as a 
whole in the following way : The initial and final tests could be 
given by the instructor to the whole class ; the practice for a week 
could be done by the individuals in their rooms according to a 
careful method prescribed by the instructor. 

14. The relation of memory to intelligence can be determined 
by the instructor as follows : The standing of the members of the 
class in the various memory tests can be correlated with their 
standing in the subject of Educational Psychology. This correla- 
tion may be determined by the Pearson formula, or it may be 
roughly determined by ranking the class in the tests, from the best 
to poorest, then ranking them for the standing in psychology. 
Divide the two lists in the middle. If more than half of the better 
half in one list is found in the better half of the other list, then 
there is a correlation between memory and intelligence as your 
test indicates. Do not attach much importance to your results 
unless the tests are carefully given and the rank in the class is 
carefully determined. 

15. Try to determine experimentally whether you can learn bet- 
ter by reading yourself or hearing the matter read. 

WORDS FOR ROTE MEMORY TEST. 



CONCEETE. 



Abstbact, 



street, ink, lamp. 

2 

spoon, horse, chair, stone. 

3 

ground, clock, boy, chalk, book. 

4 

desk, milk, hand, card, floor, 
cat 



time, game, scheme. 

2 

grade, fact, work, thing. 

3 

pluck, love, blame, fear, proof. 

4 

space, force, pride, fright, joy, 
size. 



ball, cup, glass, hat, fork, pole, 
cloud. 

6 
coat, girl, house, salt, glove, 
watch, box, mat 



length, light, style, rate, cause, 
youth, hate, 

6 

law, thought, plot, glee, life, 
call, price, strength. 



MEMORY 205 



The words should be pronounced slowly and distinctly and at 
an even rate, one group at a time. In scoring the results, a word 
in its proper place can be counted as "two," a word out of its 
proper place as "one." Inserted words not pronounced should not 
be counted. 

REFERENCES. 

FOR SYSTEMATIC TREATMENT: 

E. B. Titchener, A Textbook of Psyenology, 1910. p. 396 ; G. M. 
Whipple, Manual of Mental and Physical Tests, 1910, pp. 356 and 
394; W. James, Principles of Psychology, Vol. i, p. 643: Talks to 
Teachers, p. 116 ; C. H. Judd, Psychology, 1907, p. 231 ; J. R. Angell, 
Psychology, 1908, p. 222 ; R. M. Yerkes, Introduction to Psychology, 
1911, pp. 189 and 300: H. Miinsterberg, Psychology and the Teacher, 
1909, p. 137; H. J. Watt, The Economy and Training of Memory, 
1909. 

ORIGINAL STUDIES : 

T. L. Bolton, The Growth of Memory in School Children, in 
American Journal of Psychology, Vol. iv, p. 362; M. W. Calkins, 
A Study of Immediate and Delayed Recall of the Concrete and the 
Verbal, in Psychological Review, Vol. v, p. 451 ; E. A. McC. Gamble, 
A Study in Memorizing Various Materials by the Reconstruction 
Method, Psych. Revieio, Monograph Supplement, Vol. x. No. 4.3, 
1909; C. J. Hawkins, Experiments on Memory Types, in Psych. 
Revietc, Vol. iv, p. 289 ; E. A. Kirkpatrick, An Experimental Study 
of Memory, in Psych. Review, Vol. i, p. 602 ; F. Smedley, Report of 
Department of Child-Study and Pedagogic Investigation, Chicago 
Public Schools, No. 3, 1900-1901; W. G. Smith, The Relation of 
Attention to Memory, in Mind, n. s.. No. 4. p. 47; The Place of 
Repetition in Memory, in Psych. Review, Vol. iii. p. 21 ; E. N. Hen- 
derson, A Study of Memory for Connected Trains of Thought, 
Psych. Rev., Mon. Sup., Vol. v, 1903. No. 23; J. C. Shaw, A Test 
of Memory in School Children, in Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. iv, 
p. 61 ; W. H. Pyle. The Function of the Teacher in Memory Work, 
in Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. i, p. 474; The Most 
Economical Unit for Committing to Memory, in Journal of Edu- 
cational Psychology. Vol. ii. p. 133 ; Retention as Related to Repe- 
tition, in Journal of Educational Psychology. Vol. ii, p. 311; H. 
Miinsterberg and J. Bigham. Memory, in Psych. Rev., Vol. i, p. 34; 
J. Bigham. Memory, Psych. Rev., Vol. i. p. 4.53; C. Guillet, Reten- 
tion in Child and Adult, in American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 
XX, p. 318. 



Chapter XIV. 
ATTENTION. 

Attention is a term applied to the arrangement of 
the contents of consciousness, at a given time, on the 
basis of sensory clearness. At any given time some 
conscious processes are clear, others relatively ob- 
scure. We commonly say that the clear processes 
are attended to and that the unclear are not attended 
to. This popular way of speaking of the facts is 
somewhat unfortunate, for it implies that there are 
mental processes and, in addition, something else 
that can take up an attitude toward these processes; 
Ljiat the conscious processes go filing by some sort 
of arbiter that seizes upon some of them and lets 
the others go. But such crude notions as this can not 
be held by a scientific psychology that knows only the 
mental processes themselves. Mental processes are 
the sum-total of consciousness. It would be more 
accurate to say that mental processes are experienced 
in a state of attention when they are clear. By 'at- 
tending to' we should mean only that the process in 
question is relatively clear in comparison with other 
simultaneous mental processes. The clear, then, is 
the 'attended to' and the unclear is the 'not at- 
tended to.' 

The neurological point of view. — There is a point of 
view, however, that gives some justification for 
using the term in something like its old meaning, — 
the point of view of neurology or physiology. If 

[206] 



ATTENTION 207 

instead of a mental arbiter that is free to choose or 
select we substitute our physical bodies, with their 
nervous systems, there is some sense in saying that 
we attend to this or that. What we mean is that the 
nervous activity, which is the condition of our mental 
life, determines what mental processes shall be clear 
and what unclear. Our nervous system selects, 
chooses. This system is constantly stimulated by the 
environment, and there is a constant, ceaseless 
change in the distribution of nervous activity. The 
shift and change of clearness in mental processes 
parallels, and is conditioned by, this shift and change 
of nervous activity. In a sense, then, the nervous 
system selects and chooses, but this selection is 
entirely mechanical. The arrangement and distribu- 
tion of nervous activities at any moment is dependent 
upon past activities, ultimately upon heredity and 
environment. 

It is important that teachers understand this 
clearly, for such a point of view brings the problem 
of attention out of the clouds of an impossible meta- 
physics and puts it on a basis of fact. If the mind is 
an entity that attends or may not attend, as it pleases, 
then there can be no science of attention, there can 
be no training or direction of attention. But if atten- 
tion is a matter of sensory clearness depending upon 
the changing equilibrium of nervous activity, upon 
nervous habits, inherited and acquired, there can be 
a science of attention, and great possibilities of train- 
ing and direction appear. This control and direction 
of the attention of the pupils depends upon our ma- 
nipulation of the pupils' environment, just as every 
aspect of training depends upon such manipulation. 



208 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

We can, however, now, since we know what we 
mean, continue to use the language of every day life 
and say that we attend to this or that. A concrete 
illustration will make the matter plain. Just now 
my consciousness was chiefly clock-tick, i, e., the men- 
tal process, which I may call *' clock-tick," was clear, 
stood out distinct from other processes, — these other 
processes being pressure sensations from my clothes, 
sounds from a dripping faucet, a sort of general 
warmth and discomfort, and vague visual percep- 
tions of various objects in the room. Now, I say that 
I was attending to the clock-tick and not attending 
to the other processes, when all that I can mean is 
that the clock-tick was clearer than the other proc- 
esses. A moment later the whole pattern of con- 
sciousness was changed. The clock-tick became ob- 
scure, went almost below the conscious level, while 
noises from the stairway became clear. And in like 
manner the contents of consciousness are continually 
shifting. A process now clear presently is obscure, 
while some other process rises to maximal clearness, 
and the processes of a succeeding moment may be 
entirely different and with their own distribution of 
clearness values. 

The two phases of attention, active and passive. — 
There are two phases in the development of atten- 
tion. Some processes easily and naturally become 
clear and run their course in the focus of attention. 
Such attention is termed passive. It is occasioned 
by stimuli of certain qualities and by intensive, sud- 
den, repeated, novel and congruous stimuli. "When 
two such stimuli simultaneously act upon the organ- 
ism neither one occasions a mental process that holds 



ATTENTION 209 

its own in the focus of attention witliont interrup- 
tion from the other. Attention under such circum- 
stances is termed active, secondary or voluntary. It 
is only a temporary stage, for repetition of the situa- 
tion soon brings about the passive stage. The basis 
of the passive attention is habit in the nervous sys- 
tem, a definite order of nervous change that results 
from repeated experience. Professor Titchener has 
made very clear the nature of these two forms of 
attention and we can not do better than to quote the 
passage: ** Secondary [active] attention is a neces- 
sary consequence of a complicated nervous system. 
Let us take an imaginary case : the case of an animal 
endowed with two sense organs, an eye and an ear. 
Suppose that such an animal is exposed, at the same 
moment, to two different stimuli, a bright light in 
front of it and a loud sound at its side. It can not 
afford to neglect either. Hence it will attend, first, 
to the stimulus which has the greater attractive 
force; but, then, having attended to that, it will at 
once turn its attention to the other : and so there will 
be a seesaw of light and sound at the focus of con- 
sciousness, a quick succession of primary attention. 
• • • Now take a case that lies nearer home. Sup- 
pose that you are in your room preparing for tomor- 
row's examination, and that you hear an alarm of 
fire in a neighboring street. Both ideas, the idea of 
examination and the idea of fire, are imperative; 
there is a conflict. The cortex is set in one part for 
work, and this setting is reinforced by a large num- 
ber of associated excitations, — the nervous processes 
corresponding to ideas of the examination mark, the 
consequences of failure, and so on. The cortex is set 



210 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

in another part for going to the fire, and this setting 
is similarly reinforced by the processes correspond- 
ing to the ideas of a run in the fresh air, an exciting 
scene, a possible rescue, and so on. The struggle 
may last for some time, and its effects may persist for 
a while after you have made your choice. So long as 
there is any trace of it, your attention is secondary 
or 'active' attention. * * * The making of a choice 
means, of course, that the stronger of the two con- 
flicting forces, the rival excitatory processes, has won 
the day, and the traces of the struggle that persist 
after the choice has been made mean that the victory 
has not been absolutely complete. If experiences of 
the sort are often repeated, so that a habit is set up, — 
a habit of work or a habit of play, — then the struggle 
is brief, and secondary attention is quickly replaced 
by primary. * * * This nervous system of ours, 
which is the scene of the conflict in secondary atten- 
tion, has a long evolutionary history. We are not all 
born equal; we are born with nervous systems that 
bear upon them a certain hereditary stamp, that 
already have within them lines of less and lines of 
greater functional resistance. The poet, we say, is 
born and not made, and to a certain extent, if the 
phrase is permitted, we are all of us born and not 
made. On the other hand, the child's nervous system 
is exceedingly plastic and impressionable ; it is easily 
moulded by education ; so that, to quote another cur- 
rent saying, habit may become second nature. The 
leanings and aptitudes and predilections that we 
show in adult life are, then, the resultant of two influ- 
ences, heredity and education, nature and nurture."* 

*Text-BooJc of Psychology, 1910, 



ATTENTION 211 

Function of attention. — The function of attention, 
on the side of mind, is the unification of conscious- 
ness, and on the side of body it is the unification of 
movement. Combining both points of view in that of 
psychophysics, we may say that the function of at- 
tention is the unification of action. It is quite evident 
that attention is closely related to action. Stimula- 
tion is the initiation of action. Now, in such complex 
organisms as man, there are always several stimuli 
acting upon the nervous system at the same time. 
The organism can not respond to all of these simul- 
taneous stimuli at the same time. It is a unity and 
there must be organisation and unity in its actions. 
Therefore natural selection has developed the atten- 
tive individual. The nervous system constantly 
chooses and selects in the sense that there is always 
a center or focus of nervous activity as the resultant 
of all the various stimulations. It is this center or 
focus that determines the response of the individual. 
Clearness of consciousness, on the mental side, is the 
parallel of the center or focus of nervous activity. 
Or, to lay aside the distinction of mind and body, we 
may say that the attentive consciousness is the de- 
terminant of response. It is almost as if we had sev- 
eral minds of various degrees of clearness value, but 
the clearest, with the nervous processes which corre- 
spond to it, always usurps the function of action. 

Attention and education. — If we are right in our 
assumption that education is to perfect adjustments, 
and if the conclusion of the last paragraph, that at- 
tention unifies action, is sound, then it follows that 
attention and education have intimate relations. Let 
us see what these are. It is evident that attention is 



212 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

important for both aspects of education. On the 
knowledge side, in the getting and retaining of ideas, 
it is only the attentive consciousness that counts, and 
on the side of expression we have seen that in the 
formation of habits it is only attentive practice, at- 
tentive drill, that is effective. 

(1) One of the functions of education is to remove 
consciousness from the level of active attention to 
that of passive attention in as many fields of activity 
as possible. If children are ever to be adequately 
adjusted, if they are ever to move freely, easily and 
efficiently in the fields of their activity, then the as- 
pects of these fields of activity must be made matters 
of passive attention. Consider the various branches 
of study: in mathematics the facts, at first, are mat- 
ters of active attention ; they are in the focus of at- 
tention for but short intervals of time, giving way to 
ideas and perceptions of marbles, tops, balls, and 
various other things that are much more interesting 
and that seem to have no trouble in getting into the 
focus of attention and remaining there indefinitely. 
But through the influence of the child's teachers the 
mathematical ideas are continually brought to the 
focus of attention, although for brief intervals, until 
finally they are attended to with ease, and seem to 
have no trouble in holding their own in consciousness 
for hours at a time. Such development is found to 
occur in every field of mental activity, in all the 
school subjects. When as a child the entomologist 
studied insects, they may have been objects of passive 
attention for him for short periods of time, but if he 
became a student of insects there were long periods 
of hard study, when ' ' bugs ' ' had many rivals for the 



ATTENTION 213 

focus of attention, and successful rivals, too. But 
now, after many years of study, the world is to him 
a world of insects ; there is little else in it. For days 
and weeks he lives among them, nothing else is so 
interesting, there is scarcely any lasting conscious- 
ness other than an insect consciousness. This is 
always true of efficient men. One never moves with 
efficiency anywhere until consciousness there is on 
the level of passive attention. It could not be other- 
wise. Life is action ; action flows from the attentive 
consciousness. There can be no consistent action as 
long as there is vacillation of attention,aslongasthere 
is conflict and uncertainty. And from the point of view 
of constructive thought we come to the same conclu- 
sion. One 's thoughts on any subject will never amount 
to anything as long as the ideas on that subject have 
but a fleeting existence in the focus of consciousness. 
One thinks efficiently in any field only when he can 
not keep the ideas of that subject out of the mind. 
Therefore, viewing education from the standpoint 
of attention, its function is seen to be the develop- 
ment of the passive attention in the line of life's 
activities. How can this be done? 

(2) We can get our first answer to the above ques- 
tion by a consideration of the factors that give rise 
to passive attention. We found them to be certain 
qualities, intensity, suddenness, repetition, novelty 
and congruity. Our inherited nervous system is such 
that certain qualities always attract attention; the 
sudden stimulus, the repeated stimulus, the intensive 
stimulus, the congruous and the novel stimulus are 
intrinsically effective for consciousness. We can not 
keep from attending to the mental processes to which 



214 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOQT 

they give rise. All through life these factors are 
effective, and there is always a certain legitimate 
use to be made of them. Movement can usually be 
depended upon to attract attention. The child is 
nearly always ready to attend to the moving thing 
and to the thing that has life. Novelty is also usually 
effective. The lazy, incompetent teacher settles down 
to a monotonous procedure, a continuous repetition 
of a formal scheme. As a result, the pupils have no 
interest and make little progress. The competent 
teacher, while adhering to a system, constantly is 
finding new aspects, new details of familiar things, 
and although having a definite procedure, finds pos- 
sibilities of variation. The result is interested chil- 
dren that make progress. But perhaps greater mis- 
takes are made by failing to take into account the 
fact that the congruous attracts attention. In ordi- 
nary school work that consists so largely in getting 
ideas, in dealing with symbols, teachers forget that 
ideas that have little meaning will not remain long in 
attention. Getting ideas is a system of grafting, and 
an idea can not be grafted onto an alien stock. It is 
the teacher's business to find a group of old ideas 
that can receive the new. We have to start with only 
the stock that nature gives us, the instincts, and the 
ideas that have resulted from their activities, to- 
gether with habits that have been formed upon in- 
stincts as an ultimate basis. Budding and grafting 
onto this native stock is our only possibility. Pro- 
fessor Miinsterberg* has emphasised this factor of 
attention, as contrasted with the others which he 
speaks of as being objective, while this he calls sub- 

•H, Miinsterberg, Psychology and the Teacher, p. 163. 



ATTENTION 215 

jective. As a matter of fact, all the factors have the 
same basis, namely, the nature of the individual as 
dependent upon his past life. But he is right in 
emphasising the importance of this factor. If we 
wish to create the possibility of long and effective 
attention in any aspect of life, we can do so ade- 
quately only by patiently building up a body of or- 
ganised experience in that aspect of life. The basis 
of attention is always the same, — the needs of the 
individual. The baby and the young child have no 
trouble in attending to almost everything in their 
immediate environment. They handle it, taste it, 
pound it. When we undertake the child's formal 
education one of our greatest mistakes is that we try 
to interest him in aspects of life that have no mean- 
ing for him, and he therefore feels no need for the 
new ideas ; they have no relation to his past experi- 
ence. A child is not going to pay very much atten- 
tion to new ideas that can not be identified with his 
needs, i. e., brought into relation to his old ideas. 

(3) Training the attention. In what sense can we 
speak of training the attention? In the language of 
a faculty psychology, attention would be a power of 
mind that could be improved by training. But if we 
are to consider attention as only the clearness aspect 
of conscious processes, what about training? There 
is no training in the sense that consciousness is some- 
thing in which there is no attention, but which ac- 
quires attention by training. Consciousness is al- 
ways attentive in the sense that there is always some 
sort of distribution of clearness values. What we 
are accustomed to call training the attention would 
be better spoken of as training in habits of learning. 



216 THE OUTLINES 07 EDUCATIONAL PSTOHOLOOT 

A pupil can be trained, for example, to sit down and 
prepare a geometry lesson in spite of all sorts of diffi- 
culties and distractions. Such training comes about 
in something like the following fashion : When young 
the child is given some task to perform. He starts 
at it, but later sees something which interests liim 
more ; he leaves his task and turns to the other mat- 
ter. In some form or other he is punished for neg- 
lecting the task, and is told that when he starts to do 
anything he must not leave it till it is finished. By 
suitable repetitions of such experience the child, by 
and by forms an ideal that may crystallize into some 
such words as, ''a task to be performed, stick to it till 
it is finished." The ideal extends itself to include 
self-imposed tasks. Whenever, in the performance 
of a task, there comes temptation to leave it and take 
up something else, there may come up the words ex- 
pressing these ideals of work, and with them mem- 
ories of painful experiences that had come from neg- 
lected tasks, all of which serve to inhibit action upon 
the initiative of the tempting idea. The pupil says 
to himself, *' Where was I reading? Oh, yes, the 
square of the hypotenuse," etc. And the interrupted 
work proceeds. But a training with such results is 
really a training in habits of work, is a training in a 
certain response to a certain kind of situation, and is 
in no proper sense a training of attention. It is a 
training, however, that results in maintaining atten- 
tion along certain lines of thought, when without 
such training there would be a shift in the direction 
of attention. For this reason there is no objection to 
calling it a training of attention. And it is needless 
to say that it is one of the most valuable trainings 



ATTENTION 217 

that a person can have. As a result of it, one is able 
to sit down to his study table, perhaps with headache, 
toothache and memories of unpleasant experiences 
of the day, and go to work. At first the ideas of the 
study taken up may have but a fleeting existence till 
they are driven out by toothache, but we say, ''No, 
I must go ahead with this work; now, where was I? 
I was just taking up the function of attention, ' ' etc., 
and so after a little time, after a little seesawing back 
and forth, the ideas of our work are focal, all else is 
gone, and we may work on for hours without head- 
ache, toothache or memories becoming focal. The 
ability to act in this way is the result of training, and 
it might very well be called a training in attention, 
since it enables one, by his habitual way of meeting 
a definite situation, to direct the line of his attention. 
Without such a habit well established no one ever 
accomplishes anything, for there is nearly always 
the toothache, headache, memory, or something else 
to detract us from our tasks, and we have to resort to 
tricks and devices to hold ourselves to our work. 
And this is what Miinsterberg calls subjective con- 
trol ; it is taking the control of our destiny out of the 
hands of a changing environment and putting it 
within ourselves. One of the results of such training 
is that it actually varies somewhat the type of atten- 
tion. When one, by training, becomes able to hold 
himself to the same task of thought for a long time, 
it brings about a sort of mono-ideism. Ideas hover- 
ing about the central thought continually come; all 
other incongruous ideas are inhibited. Such thought 
becomes in the highest degree effective, for as the 



218 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

result of the high degree of nervous activity the radi- 
ations go into every associate path; our whole expe- 
rience is brought to bear on the topic in hand. Con- 
sciousness is enabled to work at its highest point of 
efficiency. But such a habit, on the part of a child, 
can not be formed in a day. And in any case the child 
can not transcend his nature. He must come to see 
that it is by sticking to his task that he can work out 
his ends and accomplish his purposes. And the 
things that one can work at for hours are always the 
things that concern one, things that are worth while. 
There is no training known among men that can keep 
long before consciousness anything that does not 
make in rather strong degree some one of the natural 
appeals to be there. 

(4) One reason that attention is often poor in 
school is because so much of the work is dealing with 
symbols instead of realities. The child is by nature 
not very much interested in symbols. They are not 
so apt to bite him as a snake is, and they are not so 
sweet as candy. The child gets an interest in the sym- 
bols only after they are identified with some of his 
natural interests. Such identification is made, for ex- 
ample, when a child learns that by writing c a n d y he 
can get some of the sweet to eat. More of the school 
work should deal with the living and actual realities, 
and, in the second place, the teacher should take 
greater pains to identify the symbols with the needs 
of the child in as direct a way as possible. It is 
strange that the schools have got so far away from 
nature, and that the life of the school has got so far 
away from the real life of the world. 



ATTENTION 219 



QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY. 

1. Analyze your consciousness at several times, noting the dis- 
tribution of the various processes on the basis of clearness. Write 
out your description of these states, estimating the clearness of 
the various sensations, perceptions and ideas. 

2. Give from your experience illustrations of primary and sec- 
ondary attention. Illustrate, from actual experience, the develop- 
ment of primary out of secondary attention. 

3. Apply to different school studies the statement that the aim 
of education, from the point of view of attention, is to reduce as 
many of the fundamental activities as possible to the realm of 
primary attention. 

4. What is meant by "habit of attention"? Can there be such 
a thing as habit of inattention? 

5. Suppose that a teacher notices that certain pupils are usually 
inattentive to the regular worlj of the class, how could he deter- 
mine the cause of inattention? What possibilities are there? Give, 
if you can, an example of such a case, its cause and the cure. 

6. Have you any acquired acts from which attention has en- 
tirely disappeared? 

7. Can the development of primary attention in one field inca- 
pacitate one for attention in another unrelated field? Illustrate. 

8. Visit several rooms in the public school and note the differ- 
ences in attention, and endeavor to discover the reasons for the 
differences. 

9. Are we justified in having quietude for study, or should we 
train ourselves to study in the midst of distractions, such as 
conversations? 

10. Make a careful analysis of your consciousness from the 
point of view of attention while playing the piano and singing at 
the same time. Does your attention shift from one to the other, 
or is one process continually low in clearness value? Does either 
process ever go entirely below the level of consciousness? 

11. From the point of view of attention, can you justify or must 
you condemn the practice of beginning one recitation by reviewing 
the preceding? 

12. Does the length of time that we can hold the attention of a 
child depend on the subject-matter? 

13. In what sense can you force a pupil to give attention? 
Illustrate. 

14. Should a teacher ever attempt to secure attention to the 
subject that is before the class by telling jokes or by making 
unusual movements or noises? 

15. Can you get a child to attend to anything that has no inter- 
est for him? 

16. Show fully how it is possible for something that has no 
interest in itself for a child to acquire an interest by being con- 
nected with something else intrinsically interesting. Illustrate 
from your own experience. 



220 £HB OUTLXNBa OV S»U0A!E!0S7jlL PaVOHOLOOT 

17. Should children be allowed to epeciallze In subjects In 
which they seem to have great natural capacity and interest? 

18. Do you think that any normal child can become interested 
in, and pursue profitably, all the school subjects? Give the evi- 
dence on which your answer is based. 

19. What is the effect on a child of having him in a grade that 
is quite too hard for him? 

20. What is usually the trouble when the majority of an audi- 
ence pay little attention to a lecture or sermon? 

21. What distribution of work, play and rest should there be 
in the primary grades? How long can a child give effective at- 
tention? 

22. In what sense is attention dependent upon bodily nourish- 
ment? 

REFERENCES. 

FOR SYSTEMATIC TREATMENT: 

E. B. Titchener, Textbook of Psychology, 1910, p. 265; Lectures 
on the Elementary Psychology of Feeling and Attention, 1908, Chs. 
v-vii ; W. James, Principles of Psychology, Vol. i, Ch. xi ; Talks to 
Teachers, Ch. xi ; Briefer Course, Ch. xiii ; J. R. Angell, Psychol- 
ogy, 1905, p. 04 ; Ebbinghaus, Psychology, 1908, p. 87 ; R. M. Yerkes, 
Introduction to Psychology, 1911, p. 292 ; C. H. Judd, Psychology, 
1907, p. 189; W. B. Pillsbury, Attention, 1908; H. Munsterberg, 
Psychology and the Teacher, Ch. xviii. 

ORIGINAL STUDIES : L. R. Geissler, On the Measurement of 
Attention, in American Journal of Psychology, Vol. xx, p. 473, an 
exhaustive experimental study ; H. W. Chase, Some Aspects of the 
Attention Problem, ia Fed, 8em., Vol. xvi, p. 281. 



Chapter XV 

THINKING. 

Association of ideas. — One characteristic of man 
that distinguishes him, perhaps, from most of the 
lower animals, is that he has images and ideas. His 
life is not merely a perceptual life. His experiences 
may be lived again. What is at one time sensation, 
may be experienced again as image ; what is at one 
time perception, may be experienced again as idea. 
One may see, today, a bridge over a river, and to- 
morrow, hundreds of miles away, may see the bridge 
again as idea. What interests us here, however, is 
the fact that when tomorrow the bridge comes back 
to us as visual image or idea there come also other 
ideas which correspond to perceptions which we had 
along with that of the bridge. While crossing the 
bridge we were riding with our friend, Mr. X, talk- 
ing about the political campaign. This all comes 
back to us now as we think of the bridge. This group- 
ing together of images and ideas in accordance with 
our past experience is known as the association of 
ideas. The law of this association is that ivhat is 
experienced together or in close succession once, 
either as perceptions or ideas, is likely to he so ex- 
perienced again. A child may see a sheep and hear 
it bleat ; afterward it may see a sheep or a picture of 
a sheep or in any way have the idea of sheep brought 
to mind and have also the idea of bleating. So close 
is such an association — an animal with its character- 

[221] 



222 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

istic sound — that a child is likely to name an animal 
"after" this somid, or characteristic action. It is in 
this way that our experiences are built up. Experi- 
encing things together and in various combinations 
is what makes knowledge and its organisation pos- 
sible. The child not only sees the sheep and hears 
it bleat, but sees it eat grass, sees the wool clipped 
from its back, sees this wool pass through various 
stages of manufacture, sees the sheep's young, eats 
sheep, — in a word, — the child sees sheep in a great 
multitude of situations and relations. These sheep 
experiences of the child, from first to last, are built 
together into an organised whole, and may serve as 
a type of what constitutes knowledge. After the 
child has lived in this world for several years, he has 
built up an inner world corresponding to the outer 
world. The relationships in time and space of the 
objects in the outer world have their correspondence 
in the inner world of ideas. The objects of the outer 
world are grouped in infinite fashion, so are our 
ideas. When one thinks of the intricacy and com- 
plexity of mental life, one is likely to think that so 
simple a bond as contiguity, so simple a thing as 
being together in time and space can not explain all 
the connections to be found in mind. Three consid- 
erations may help to make the matter believable: 

(1) We can observe association in its simplicity in 
a young child, where in most cases, the basis of the 
connections of ideas is clear. The experience of the 
young child is so limited, that in most cases, it is easy 
to explain the flow of ideas from one to another. 

(2) We must also bear in mind that the external rela- 
tions of objects are, indeed, infinite. Therefore a 



THINKING 223 

person that has lived here for a great many years 
has experienced the objects of the world in a great 
complexity of relationships. (3) All our experience 
is boimd together through mediating experiences. 
All the experiences of life are therefore organised 
into a whole. Let us illustrate : The bray of a mule 
may make one think of Christ or one's first sweet- 
heart or perhaps of Pittsburgh, — of Christ, because 
one has read of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem ; 
of one's first sweetheart, because perchance once 
while driving with that lovely damsel, one collided 
with a mule; of Pittsburgh, because one has seen 
coal wagons drawn by mules and been told by the 
driver that the coal was mined at Pittsburgh. 

The reader may think that such explanations raise 
more difficulties than they explain. What determines 
the succession of ideas when each may appear in 
many settings? There are several determining fac- 
tors;* among them being recency, frequency and 
mental ' ' set. ' ' Other things equal, the more recently 
objects have been experienced together or in close 
succession, the more likely is the perception or idea 
of one to be followed by the idea of the other. Other 
things equal, the more frequently objects have been 
experienced together in the past, either as percep- 
tions or ideas, the more likely is the idea of one to be 
followed by that of the other. But, other things 
equal, one's mental set, — one's frame of mind, mood, 
or present problem, — determines what idea, out of 
all the possibilities, will follow the one now focal. 
If one is reading the bible or taking part in a funeral 

*A complete list would Include primacy, intensity and possibly 
other factors. 



224 THJQ OUXLZKSS Of SSUOAXZOKAI^ PB?OHOLOQ¥ 

procession, the bray may bring the triumphal entry 
to mind ; if one is reading a love scene in the latest 
novel, then, perhaps, the bray brings up an image oi 
the early loved one. One must also remember that 
the basis of association is to be found in the nervous 
system, but of the details of the neural conditions of 
association, we know little. We have sufficient evi- 
dence, however, to make us believe that our ideas 
and images, as well as our perceptions and sensa- 
tions, have their neural conditions without which 
they could not occur. The fact of brain activity be- 
ing the condition of mental activity helps somewhat 
to understand association. Let us see : 

Our ideas have as their conditions brain activities. 
The sphere of the latter is nerve cells. These nerve 
cells are all bound together by fibers. Brain activity 
in one group of cells arouses activities in other 
groups of cells. The laws of recency, frequency and 
mental *'set" doubtless have their ultimate explana- 
tion in the physiology of the brain. Let us be clear 
as to the situation. The laws of recency, frequency 
and mental "set" are descriptive statements of psy- 
chological facts that have been fairly well demon- 
strated inductively and experimentally. The physio- 
logical explanation is a hypothesis. It has, however, 
many facts to support it. 

Imagination. — In chapter XIII we distinguished 
two kinds of images, the image of memory and the 
image of imagination. If an idea has accompanying 
ideas to give it setting in time and space, we call it 
memory. If it lack those accompanying processes 
which give it a feeling of familiarity, we call it 
imagination. Imagination and memory are, then, 



SHXNKZNa S25 

the terms that designate the two extremes of our 
forms of imagery. We have learned that memory 
plays an important part in the life of man. So, also, 
does imagination. It gives color to the bare, prosaic 
affairs of life. To illustrate: The calendar on my 
wall has on it a simple picture of several pretty Jer- 
sey heifers standing in a grassy meadow, with a back- 
ground of trees, mountains and blue sky. As I look 
at the picture scores of images come and go. Some 
of them are clearly images with definite settings, but 
there are also many more images more or less vague 
and fleeting. I see now a rabbit here, a bird there, 
some people yonder. In a word, the little picture 
seems only a stage on which are enacted in quick suc- 
cession the scenes of an endless drama. Very promi- 
nent are the feelings that these images have brought 
and left. The picture has brought back to me for the 
moment my childhood days, clover fields and bumble- 
bees, and over all is a characteristic mood. If we 
had no imagination a picture would mean nothing 
to us, but since we have it the picture can call forth 
a train of ideas and images with their accompanying 
feelings. The greatness of a picture may be meas- 
ured by its power to call forth images of memory 
and imagination. This same thing is true of litera- 
ture. The words of the poet, novelist or historian are 
but the means of enabling us to picture forth an 
imaginary world. The words call up bits of experi- 
ence from various parts of our past life which fit 
together into a harmonious whole. To illustrate, let 
the reader read such a thing as Tennyson's Crossing 
the Bar, or Joaquin Miller's Columbus, and by in- 
trospection determine the sequence of ideas. The 



226 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

result, of course, will be different for different people, 
but for all there will come a train of ideas, for the 
most part, images of imagination, visual, auditory 
and kinaesthetic, which arouse a very definite mood 
and frame of mind. It is such imagery that enriches 
our exjoerience. Nearly everything that we see or 
hear brings up some past experience as memory or 
imagination, and this revived experience, this imagi- 
nation, clothes the bare skeleton of perceptual ex- 
perience. 

Thinking. — By thinking, in a broad sense, we usu- 
ally mean the succession in our mind of ideas, either 
of memory or imagination. This flow of ideas, in 
accordance with the law of association, is called 
thought. Directed or puriDOsive thought may be 
called reason. In reasoning we are solving a prob- 
lem, meeting a situation. To illustrate : I go down 
town with my umbrella and come back without it. 
As I hang up my hat I miss my umbrella from the 
rack where I am used to seeing it. I then have an 
image of myself going off with the umbrella. I say, 
''Where did I leave it?" I then see myself in the 
postoffice, and see myself leaving with it. I did not 
leave it there. I see myself in the bank. I stood the 
umbrella in the corner while I wrote a check. I left 
the bank putting the money into my purse. There I 
left the umbrella. I go to the bank at once and find 
that the cashier has put my umbrella away for me. 
This is thinking in terms of memory images. 

Again, suppose one is asked whether dew is more 
likely to form on a clear night or on a cloudy night. 
One says ; ' ' Let me see, ' ' and then has a succession 
of ideas concerning the nature of dew, the cause of 



THINKING 227 

dew, etc. One thinks in terms of memory images, of 
clear skies, their causes and consequences, of cloudy 
skies and their causes and consequences, and pres- 
ently says, "Why, on clear nights, because on clear 
nights the grass cools by radiation and the surround- 
ing air is cooled to the dew point. On cloudy nights 
radiation is largely checked, the air does not cool 
down to the dew point. ' ' The following may further 
illustrate the action aspect of reasoning: A boy, 
walking alone in a wood, comes to a stream, too wide 
for him to jump across. He pauses, looks about and 
sees on the bank a pole and several large stones. He 
has walked on poles and fences, he therefore sees 
himself putting the pole across and walking on it, 
but before having time to do it, he recalls walking on 
poles that had turned. The perception of stones now 
becomes focal, and since no inhibiting ideas arise, 
they are soon piled into the stream and the boy walks 
across. This flow of ideas leading up to the action 
takes different forms, — it is not always visual 
imagery, it may be auditory or kinaesthetic, and as 
we grow older, it is very likely to be in the form of 
verbal ideas or actually spoken words. But what- 
ever the form, the result is the same. 

In reasoning, then, we meet a situation that must 
be solved. In accordance with the law of association 
the situation arouses first one idea from our past 
experience, then another, till our problem is solved. 
The problem is solved when we come to a state of be- 
lief. The whole process, the associations and the 
state of belief, is dependent upon our past experi- 
ence. One's experience may be entirely inadequate, 
one may reach a wrong solution. But in any case, 



228 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

the material is the same, — our experience; and the 
method is the same, — association, or rather, the re- 
call of ideas in accordance with the law of associa- 
tion. In the highest form of abstract reasoning the 
process is not essentially different. One can in no 
case do more than await the flow of ideas that follow 
upon the situation presented by the problem, and 
both the ideas one has and the nature of their asso- 
ciation are dependent upon experience. The flow of 
ideas proceeds until one comes that fits the situation, 
so far as one's experience is concerned. 

Suppose one is asked if it is ever right to tell a lie. 
One then has in succession a number of ideas, usually 
memories, of lies of various kinds told by himself or 
others under various situations, one remembers the 
results; one also has a succession of ideas relating 
to right and wrong conduct ; these may depend upon 
our early training and the ideals that we formed as 
a result. This is probably crystallized into a verbal 
expression, such as ''The end justifies the means," 
"Tell the truth at all hazards," etc. Finally a norm 
of conduct and the particular situation presented 
come together in consciousness, excluding or inhibit- 
ing other ideas, the problem is solved, we feel con- 
tent, we have belief. 

Training in reasoning. — In a very definite sense 
one can be trained in reasoning. Of course, the basis 
is perceptual experience. If a child is ever to reason 
as a physicist, he must have a wide experience with 
the physical world, he must see falling bodies and 
measure their increments, he must heat bodies and 
measure their expansion, he must have a wide ex- 
perience with electricityj ^ound and light. After 



THINKING 229 

such wide experience, when the physicist is con- 
fronted with a problem, he solves it as follows : The 
situation presented in the problem arouses, in ac- 
cordance with the law of association, various ideas 
until he has an idea that pictures just such a situa- 
tion as the present with such and such an outcome. 
Until such an idea comes, then, the physicist cannot 
solve his problem without resorting to experiment. 
He says: *'I do not know, I shall try it and see." 
I once asked a physicist which would freeze first, a 
pan of cold water or one of hot water, placed out of 
doors on a cold day. He replied that there was no 
reason why the cold one should not freeze first, and 
besides he said he had tried the experiment and found 
the cold water froze first. This illustrates the usual 
procedure of science. "When a new problem is pre- 
sented, by direct manipulation, the scientist produces 
the required situation and observes the result. He 
then has a new mental connection or association 
ready to function in the future. One can, then, train 
children to think, first of all, by leading them to get 
a wide and rich experience, — experience in the realm 
wherein they are to think. This is primary, for with- 
out experience there can be no thought. A teacher 
can further help the child (1) by directing attention 
to important aspects of experience, helping in the 
analysis and synthesis of experience. (2) In the 
next place the teacher can aid the pupil by encourag- 
ing a habit of cautious procedure. A child may ac- 
cept the first idea that comes as the solution to his 
problem; he may not be critical, — he can be led to 
form the habit of waiting, of saying, '*hold on here, 
let us see, may be it is not this way," then other ideas 



230 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

come, and others, then the first again, perhaps. 
Finally, after change of ideas back and forth, a cer- 
tain idea persists as a solution of the situation. In 
such a case, if the experience of the individual has 
been broad enough, the solution is likely to be cor- 
rect. (3) The child can also be encouraged to form 
a habit of putting the solution reached as above 
described to some crucial test. This is illustrated in 
the case of the physicist. He was pretty sure about 
the freezing of the water, but still there might be 
some factor that he had never considered, so he puts 
the matter to the test of direct experiment, — this is 
a habit with him, as it is with all men who deal with 
natural and physical science. 

To illustrate further, suppose one asks a boy what 
will happen if a strip of iron be firmly riveted to 
another strip of copper and the strips heated. The 
boy can solve the problem provided he has noted the 
relative expansion of iron and copper when heated. 
The situation will soon bring the proper ideas. But 
if he knows only that metals usually expand when 
heated, but does not know the relative expansion of 
iron and copper, he will not be able to solve the prob- 
lem ; he must experiment. But in either case, in the 
early stages of intellectual progress, he should be 
encouraged to verify his conclusions by resorting to 
experiment or some form of crucial test. First the 
problem, then the solution, then the test. And in each 
of the steps the teacher can be of much service to the 
pupil. The teacher's function here is to direct the 
experience of the child, set the proper kind of prob- 
lems, and aid in the forming of proper habits of ap- 
proach to their solution. In the early stages of prog- 



THINKING 231 

ress in reasoning, imitation will function as an im- 
portant factor. But later through imitation a child 
gains a lot of experience that functions directly in the 
solution of problems. 

While one can be trained in reasoning, this train- 
ing is to a large degree specific. In the first place, 
because in thinking or in reasoning, we can only have 
ideas that have grown out of our experience. The 
material of thought is ideas, and the basis of ideas 
is experience. One cannot reason in a field where 
he has had no experience. Therefore a person who 
had spent his life as a botanist and had little or no 
experience in other fields could not reason in those 
other fields. One would not think of going to such a 
man to have him solve a problem in medicine, or 
law, or in engineering. One cannot reason where he 
has no facts. Then there is a further reason why 
training in reasoning is specific. There are certain 
habits of procedure best adapted to solving the prob- 
lems presented in the various fields of thought. One 
habitually puts to himself certain forms of questions 
that best lead to the proper solution of the problem. 
This is the reason why men who successfully meet 
the situations of their own profession so often utterly 
fail when called upon to meet unfamiliar situations 
in other fields. Often a scientist attempts to solve a 
problem in another science than his own, the result 
is usually to make himself ridiculous. It may be that 
there are certain forms of thought that are to some 
extent universal, forms which one learns by studying 
logic and mathematics. But, as a matter of fact, the 
great thinkers in the various spheres of thought 
have not learned to think by a formal study of rea- 



232 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

soning. They have become great thinkers in their 
science by thinking in that science. Of course some 
fields of thought are so closely allied both as to 
matter and method that practice in one would give 
help in the other; such intimate relationships exist 
between zoology and botany, physics and chemistry, 
mathematics and astronomy. 

It follows, then, that children should have a wide 
experience, and a wide training in thinking. They 
must be trained in meeting the thought situations in 
the myriad aspects of life. As they grow older they 
should have more intensive training in the narrow 
sphere of their life-work. 

Meaning. — The meaning of an idea is another idea 
or group of ideas that always accompanies it in cer- 
tain situations. These accompanying ideas have 
reference to our needs in the definite situation. 
Meaning is best understood when considered with 
reference to action. Ordinarily the situations of life 
call for action. Constantly, as long as we live, we 
must be meeting situations. We are sitting in our 
library reading when the door bell rings. What does 
the ringing of the door bell mean? That some one 
wants to see me, that I must go to the door and let 
him in. When the bell rings I have a vague image of 
some one standing at the door and of myself letting 
him in. These ideas that accompany the ringing are 
its meaning. They are often very schematic. The 
perception or idea may throw us into a ''set" or atti- 
tude that determines action, but is very poor in 
conscious contents. We may even open the door un- 
consciously, automatically. 

A perception at first may have no meaning because 



THINKING 233 

it is new to experience. We may see an object for 
the first time ; it is unfamiliar ; it arouses no associate 
ideas. We do not know what to do with the new 
thing. Curiosity prompts us to touch it. Some 
barbs, perhaps, stick our fingers. Henceforth, the 
thing has some meaning to us. When we see it, we 
remember the pain, we turn away from it, we leave 
it alone. It now has meaning ; it is a thing that pricks. 
The structural and functional aspects are clear. 
When we meet the things of the world we have to 
take up an attitude toward them; afterward, when 
we experience these things in perception or idea, our 
previous responses and their consequences come to 
us in accordance with the law of association. This 
accompaniment is the structural aspect of meaning. 
Now since our response is always an important 
aspect of this association, functionally, we may say 
that by meaning we mean wse. A thing means what 
we can do with it. And from both points of view a 
thing means different things in different situations. 

It is evident that from the point of view of the 
active life of an individual the meaning of an idea 
is the most important thing about it. It is ideas with 
their meaning that are determined by association; 
it is ideas with their meaning that are the important 
factors in reasoning, and that on the side of con- 
sciousness represent the determinant of action. Cer- 
tainly from the point of view of a teacher, an idea is 
important only in so far as it has meaning. What 
does Lincoln mean? What does Napoleon mean? 
What does Hamlet mean? What does the civil war 
mean? W^hat does evolution mean? What does 
democracy mean? So far as the getting of knowl- 



234 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

edge is concerned, the function of the teacher is 
largely to assist the pupil to organize his knowledge 
with reference to meaning. 

Reason and education. — We have considered edu- 
cation as a process by which a child becomes ad- 
justed to its environment. From this point of view 
the place and importance of instincts, habit, memory 
and attention have been considered. What, let us 
now ask, is the function of reasoning m such a sys- 
tem as we have outlined? Efficient action has been 
held before us as the aim of education. Efficient 
action must have an instinctive or habitual basis. 
But human life is so complex that new situations are 
constantly arising, for which there is no organized 
form of response, but for which any one of several 
forms of instinctive or habitual action may, perhaps, 
be more or less adequate. However, since the situa- 
tion is new or has some new aspect, no response 
comes immediately. There is a pause between stimu- 
lus and response. At such a juncture, reasoning, as 
we have defined it, takes places. The conditions 
which give rise to reasoning, then, are always more 
or less new in the life of the individual. As a result 
of the associative processes, the difficulty of the new 
situation is met by some sort of action. Afterward, 
with repetition of the situation, the action becomes 
habitual. 

Of course, the passage of action from the stage of 
reason to that of habit is not always so simple. The 
first response to a new situation may bring unhappy 
results. The appearance of an appropriate response, 
in such a case, is delayed till a later appearance of 
the situation. But in such cases reasoning fails of 



THINKING 235 

its function, wliicli is to secure in a new situation the 
best possible form of response as dependent upon the 
experience of the individual. It is evident that reas- 
oning indicates a stage of incomplete adjustment 
when there is a pause, as indicated above, between 
stimulus and response. During this pause associa- 
tion brings various ideas to consciousness. Finally, 
some one of these ideas becomes, for the time, focal, 
and action ensues. The length of the pause for the 
appearance of ideas, and the fulness and adequacy 
of association, may be taken as a measure of intelli- 
gence. For, although reasoning represents a stage 
of incomplete adjustment, it is a means of meeting 
new situations with some success without making the 
individual entirely dependent upon the costly method 
of trial and error. That education would seem to be 
most effective that insures a pause in new situations, 
preventing premature action upon the appearance 
of the first idea; that provides for the child a rich 
and wide experience which is so organised as to he 
available for the solution of the neiv situation; that 
puts the solutions thus attained to the crucial test of 
practice, and that perfects, by reducing to habits, the 
forms of response thus attained. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY. 

1. Would you say that association is essentially a pbysiolngioal 
phenomenon? Is there anything in the nature of "an idea that can 
bind it to another idea? 

2. Explain fully the statement that the basis of association is 
in the nervous system. 

3. Give specific illustrations to show how a knowledge of the 
law of association may he applied to classroom work. 

4. Can a teacher direct the pupil's line of thought by suggession? 

5. What is meant by the two worlds, inner and outer? 

6. One can easily make both qualitative and quantitative studies 



236 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 



of association. A test in the free flow of ideas, Ijnown as the 
"uncontrolled association test," can be given as follows : The class 
is told to write down as fast as possible all the words that come 
to mind, starting with a certain word given by the instructor. 
Three minutes may be allowed for the test. And any word will do 
to start with. In a test given to the author's class the first word 
was ivork. The average number of words written by the class was 
54, the smallest number by any person was IG, and the largest was 
92, the mean variation being 12. The list of words written by one 
student was as follows : work, wood pile, ax, chop, chip, carry, 
burn, run, jump, fight, school, building, new, home, summer, book, 
money, canvass, failure, work, school, bell, class next hour, lesson, 
extra work, grade. 

7. In "controlled association" three tests may be used — the 
genns-specics test, the part-ichole test, and the opposites test. The 
genus-species test may be given as follows : Give the members of 
the class a list of words, with instructions to write examples of 
the class named by each word. Make the time so short that no 
one can finish the list. The following list may be used: (1) moun- 
tain, (2) city, (3) weed, (4) metal, (5) furniture. (6) machine, 
(7) author, (8) planet, (9) river, (10) book, (11) ocean, (12) 
fruit. (13) country, (14) animal, (15) bird, (16) food, (17) lake, 
(18) poet, (19) college, (20) statesman. 

8. The part-whole test may be given as follows : Provide the 
members of the class with a list of words that name parts of 
wholes. The students are to write the name of the whole of which 
the word is a part. To illustrate, for flnr/cr, one might write hand. 
The following list may be used: (1) window, (2) leaf, (3) pillow, 

(4) button, (5) nose, (G) smokestack, (7) cogwheel, (8) cover, 
(9) letter, (10) sepal, (11) page, (12) cob, (13) axle, (14) joist, 
(15) blade, (16) sail, (17) coach, (18) cylinder, (19) beak, (20) 
stamen. 

9. For the opposites test the following list from Whipple's 
Manual mav be used: (1) good, (2) inside. (3) slow, (4) short, 

(5) little, (6) soft, (7) black, (8) dark, (9) sad, (10) true, (11) 
dislike, (12) poor, (13) well, (14) sorry, (15) thick, (16) full, (17) 
peace, (18) few, (19) below, (20) enemy. Make the time so short 
that no one can finish. One difficulty with giving these association 
tests to a class is that ideas may come faster than they can be written 
down. If it is possible to give the tests to individuals, the associ- 
ated word may be spoken and the experimenter takes the time 
required by the subject to give a word for each in the list. 

10. The following words are good for a qualitative study of 
association and for noting the factors, recency, frequency and 
mental "set :" truth, school days, mother, picnic, duty, childhood, 
Christmas, teacher, kite, garden, ball, death, moonlight, railroad, 
poem, summer, lake, hope. The list may be slowly read and the 
subject given time to note down the train of ideas set up by each 
word. What do you learn from the experiment? 



THINKING 237 

11. The class can make a study of imagination by noting what 
kind of images, whether of memory or imagination, are aroused by 
such words as the following : fountain, dove, tree, woman, angel, 
fairy, Caesar, father, garden, thunder, heaven, apple, train, moun- 
tain. 

12. An interesting study of imagination can be made by noting 
the images aroused by ink-blots. A set could be mimeographed for 
class use. Whipple has prepared a standard set which can be had 
from Stoelting of Chicago. 

13. How can we tell whether or not animals have images or 
ideas? 

14. Show in what sense and to what extent one may be trained 
in imagination. 

15. What differences are there in the imagination of children 
and older people? 

16. What should be the attitude of the high school toward im- 
agination? 

17. Look at some pictures and make an introspective study of 
your experience. Make a similar study of some short poem. For 
example, try The Village Blacksmith, The Chambered Nautilus, 
The Last Leaf, parts of The Visioti of Sir Launfal. 

18. Is imagination limited by experience? 

19. Is there any relation between imagination and intelligence? 

20. The members of the class should make an introspective 
study of reasoning. This can be done by putting various situations 
before them. For example, in speaking of the songs of the male 
and female birds, Lowell says "He sings to the wide world, She 
sings to her nest : In the nice ear of nature. Which song is the 
best?" Answer. Is it ever right to steal? Is a parent ever justi- 
fied in forsaking a child on account of the misconduct of the child? 

21. What are abstractions, and how do they originate? 

22. What is meant by the statement, "Teach a child to think 
for himself?" 

23. What is meant by "originality" in thinking? 

24. Is it true that many great discoveries are made in science 
by men who have had little experience or training in the field of 
the discovery? 

25. Logic speaks of deductive and inductive reasoning. Show 
that, from the point of view of this chapter, they are essentially 
the same. 

2G. What characterizes a genius as to his association and 
reasoning? 

27. What can a teacher do toward enlarging the experience of 
the child? Should his efforts be limited to the classroom? 

28. Suppose a situation or problem is presented to a person, 
and he cannot solve it. What is the trouble? 



238 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

29. Give an example of inadequate experience leading to a wrong 
conclusion. An example where haste does the same. 

30. Does mathematics, or an5'thing else, develop a general reas- 
oning capacity that can function universally? 

31. To what extent should a child be encouraged to accept con- 
clusions not based on his own direct experience? 

32. How is it possible for two people to have an argument and 
fail to come to an agreement? 

33. Do dogs, horses, cats and monkeys think? Do they reason? 

EEFEIIENCES. 

FOR SYSTEMATIC TREATMENT: 

E. B. Titchener, Experimental Psychology of the Thought 
Processes, 1909, Textbook of Psychology, 1910, on Association, p. 
374 ff., on Imagination, p. 416 ff., on Thought, p. 505 ff . ; W. B. 
Pillsbury, The Psychology of Reasoning, 1910, especially Chs. I, II 
and III, Essentials of Psychology, 1011, on Association, p. 135 ff., 
on Imagination, p. 213, on Reasoning, Ch. IX ; E. L. Thorndike, 
The Elements of Psychology, 1905. Chs. XVI and XVII ; J. R. An- 
gell. Psychology, 1908, on Imagination, Ch. VIII. on Reasoning, 
Chs. X, XI and XII ; J. Dewey, Hoiv We Think, 1910, Pt. 1 ; W. 
James, Principles of Psychology, 1890. on Association, Vol. II, Ch. 
XIV, on Imagination, Vol. II, Ch. XVIIIj on Reasoning, Vol. II, 
Ch. XXI. 

ORIGINAL STUDIES : 

H. L. Brittain, A Stndy of Imagination, Ped. 8em., XIV, 1907, p^ 
137 ; W. H. Burnham, Individual Differences in the Imagination of 
Children, Ped. Sent., II. 1893. p. 204; M. W. Calkins, Association, 
in Psych. Rev., Mon. Sup., 1896, Vol. I ; S. S. Colvin and E. J. 
Meyer, Imaginative Elements in the Written Work of School Chil- 
dren, Ped. Sem., XIII, 1906, p. 82, The Development of Imagina- 
tion in Sehol Children, Psych. Rev., Mon. Sup., Vol. XI, 1909, No. 
44; W. L. Gard, A Preliminary Study of the Psychology of Reason- 
ing, American Journal of Psychology, XVIII, p. 490; W. Libby, 
The Imagination of Adolescents, American Journal of Psychology, 
Vol. XIX, p. 249; T. Okabe, An Experimental Study of Belief, 
American Journal of Psychology, Vol. XXI, 1910, p. 563 ; C. W. 
Perkey, An Experimental Study of Imagination, American Journal 
of Psychology, Vol. XXII. 1910. p. 422; R. R. Rusk, Experiments 
on Mental Association in Children, British Journal of Psychology, 
Vol. Ill, 1910, p. 349 ; R. S. Woodworth and F. R. Wells, Associa- 
tion Tests, in Psych. Monographs, No. 57, 1911. 



Chapteb XVI. 
FATIGUE. 

The nature of fatigue. — It is difficult to give an 
exact definition of fatigue because of the complexity 
of the phenomena and variations of the attending 
circumstances. Offner* defines it as a ''condition 
of our organism that is developed by long continued 
work, and that, in addition to other symptoms, is 
characterised in particular by a reduction in capacity 
for, and pleasure in, work." While this definition 
holds true in general, complicating conditions may 
make action pleasurable till the organism is ex- 
hausted and enable the individual to work at least 
for a short time without showing any decrease in 
efficiency. 

We speak of fatigue as mental when there is inca- 
pacity for mental work, and bodily when there is in- 
capacity for bodily work. The symptoms of fatigue 
for bodily work are, (1) acceleration of circulation 
and respiration, except that in intense effort the re- 
verse may be true ; (2) an increase of bodily temper- 
ature, and (3) a reduction in capacity for work. As 
fatigue increases, and especially when it becomes ex- 
cessive, there is (4) a lowering of mental functioning. 
This shows that physical work unfits us for mental 



*Mental Fatigue, translated by Professor G. M. Whipple. An 
admirable statement and discussion of the experimental work on 
fatigxie. The reader is referred to it for a fuller treatment of the 

subject. 

[239] 



240 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

work. ''Even serious mental disturbances have been 
observed as a consequence of bodily exhaustion." 
(Offner, p. 9.) (5) In the final state of fatigue there 
is pain in the physical organ that is being exercised. 

As a consequence of the bodily activity, there is 
produced in the muscles that are exercised certain 
poisons, known as fatigue poisons, such as lactic acid 
and potassium phosphate. If these poisons are taken 
from a fatigued muscle and injected into a fresh 
muscle, the phenomena of fatigue appear in the fresh 
muscle. Mosso* took the blood from a fatigued dog 
and injected it into the veins of a live, unfatigued 
dog, and thereby produced fatigue phenomena in the 
live dog. Physical activity, in addition to producing 
fatigue substances, also causes the fat and muscle 
substance to be consumed in producing the muscular 
energy. This is because dissimilation proceeds faster 
than assimilation. It is possible, with short pauses 
for rest, to keep the fatigue poisons eliminated, at 
least partially, until finally exhaustion, due to the 
consumption of the muscle substance, ensues. The 
replenishing of these consumed materials is accom- 
plished by nutrition, rest and sleep. During rest and 
sleep the fatigue poisons are eliminated and the tis- 
sue is restored. 

The effects or symptoms of mental fatigue are: 
(1) Lowering of the quality and then the quantity of 
work. (2) Fluctuations of the attention, shown in 
the difficulty of pursuing a line of work. (3) Sensi- 
tivity and discrimination decrease. (4) The capacity 
of the voluntary muscles for work is impaired, just 
as in bodily fatigue capacity for mental work is im- 

*A. Mosso, Fatigue, 1904, p. 119. (English translation.) 



FATIGUE 241 

paired. The involuntary muscles are also affected. 
(5) Respiration changes, becoming first shallower 
and faster, then deeper, and in excessive fatigue 
shallower and faster again. (6) The pulse becomes 
faster and the head becomes hot on account of the 
increased supply of blood in the brain. The con- 
scious symptoms are disinclination for work, then 
weariness, then exhaustion with headache. To 
express the fatigue effects in terms of ability or ca- 
pacity to learn one can say that, as fatigue comes on, 
learning is slower and more inaccurate. The same 
fatigue poisons are produced as in bodily fatigue. 
The measure of fatigue. — In the first place, we 
must say that we can not rely upon the subjective 
symptoms of fatigue. One's feeling of fatigue is no 
reliable indication that there is fatigue. It has been 
shown that fatigue affects both mental and physical 
capacity. There are accordingly two methods of 
measuring the amount of fatigue: (1) by determin- 
ing the decrease in physical efficiency; (2) by deter- 
mining the decrease in mental efficiency. The first 
is known as the physiological method, which has sev- 
eral forms. The decrease in muscular force and effi- 
ciency may be determined by the use of the dynam- 
ometer, or the ergograph, or by testing the tapping 
rate of the subject, — the speed of tapping with the 
finger on a telegraph key decreases with fatigue. 
Fatigue may also be determined by testing the range 
of accommodation of the eye, — the range of accom- 
modation increases with fatigue. And still another 
method is by noting the changes in circulation and 
respiration. These various physiological methods 
have some value, but are, on the whole, inadequate. 



242 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

Much more reliable are those methods that measure 
fatigue by determining the decrease in mental effi- 
ciency. 

The psychological methods. — These methods un- 
dertake to determine the amount of fatigue, either by 
measuring the decrease in sensitivity or sensory dis- 
crimination, or by measuring the decrease in effi- 
ciency in performing some kind of mental work. "VVe 
shall describe briefly the more important tests. (1) 
Esthesiometry. This method evaluates fatigue by 
measuring the two-point limen for compass points 
on the skin. In general, with fatigue, the two points 
when placed upon the skin simultaneously and with 
equal pressures are perceived as one at a wider de- 
gree of separation than when the subject is not 
fatigued. This test is, however, very difficult of 
application. Various other methods of determining 
sensory limens and discrimination have been used, 
but none so carefully worked out as the esthesio- 
metric method. (2) Simple computation. Easy ex- 
amples in addition or multiplication are given to thf 
pupils for ten-minute periods hourly through the 
day. There is found an increase of speed, due to 
practice, but an increase in errors and corrections 
due to fatigue. In general, we may say that this tesk 
consists in giving a series of easy problems to be 
worked out at the highest rate of speed. Fatigue is 
indicated by an increase in the amount of errors. 
(3) Memory metJiod. This method consists in deter- 
mining the immediate memory span for digits or 
words. Fatigue is indicated by a decrease in the 
immediate memory span. Practice, however, is 
likely to offset the effect due to fatigue. If the prac- 



FATIGUE 243 

tice effects be eliminated, this is a most valuable 
method, for immediate memory span and ability to 
learn are closely associated, and are affected by any- 
thing that affects the condition of the body. By train- 
ing for a week or two, the immediate memory span 
could be brought to near its maximal efficiency ; then 
this test of fatigue could be used with considerable 
confidence. (4) The completion metliod. This test 
consists in requiring children to fill out sentences in 
which words and syllables have been omitted. The 
nature and number of errors and corrections is an 
index of fatigue, the quality of work done being in- 
versely proportional to the amount of fatigue. The 
difficulty of the method is in finding an even material 
for successive tests. (5) Cancellation method. Pu- 
pils are required to cancel out certain words or let- 
ters from a page of printed matter, allowing a speci- 
fied time for the work. It is difficult to get material 
that has an even distribution of the words or letters. 
Moreover, practice works here also to offset fatigue. 
(6) Copying method. The teacher writes on the 
board different combinations of the letters a, e, i, o, 
u, r, V, n. The pupils are given a certain time, say 
five minutes, in which to copy them. The number 
of mistakes and corrections indicates the amount of 
fatigue. (7) The combined method, (a) The pupils 
are required to count the letters in each of the first 
five lines on a page of their school reader, (b) They 
are required to add or subtract several pairs of two- 
place numbers written on the blackboard and to write 
the answers on paper, (c) The teacher recites six 
one-to-three syllable words, or four one-to-two place 
numbers, or the words or numbers may be written 



244 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

upon the blackboard and immediately erased. After 
seeing or hearing them the pupils write down as 
many as they can remember, (d) The pupils are 
given sheets on which are printed 100 words and 50 
figures containing those used in test (c). They are 
required to underline those that had been given in 
the previous test. This tests recognition, (a) and 
(b) test attention, and (c) tests immediate memory 
span. (8) Continuous work method. This test con- 
sists in giving the same form of work for some time. 
A curve can then be plotted from the data showing 
the course of efficiency for the whole period. A good 
form of the test is the solution of easy problems in 
addition or multiplication for ten-minute periods, 
with five-minute periods for rest, continuing thus to 
work and rest for one or two hours. Fatigue is indi- 
cated by the number of errors and corrections. The 
speed may increase for at least a part of the period 
on account of practice. When the actual school work 
can be treated quantitatively, it may serve as the 
material for this test. 

Some combination of methods such as that in (7) 
will doubtless be best for the teacher to use in deter- 
mining the course of fatigue throughout the day or 
for different school subjects. Simple addition or 
multiplication, copying, cancellation and immediate 
memory tests would be a good combination. What- 
ever the tests and combinations used, the teacher 
must be careful to watch for complicating circum- 
stances, such as the practice effects. 

Complicating phenomena.— Practice effects. The 
above caution concerning the effects of practice leads 
us to a consideration of several phenomena that are 



FATIGUE 245 

likely to be associated with fatigue. Practice always 
works in opposition to fatigue. If a task is per- 
formed at several times during the day, practice in- 
creases one's efficiency in the later periods. Another 
interesting phenomenon is habituation. One has less 
and less fatigue as one becomes skilful at his work. 
Habituation, then, reduces the amount of fatigue pro- 
duced by the same performance. A somewhat simi- 
lar phenomenon is known as tuarming-up. One can 
seldom do his best work at the very beginning of a 
task. Efficiency improves as one comes into the 
swing of his work. This rapid initial increase of 
efficiency is 'warming-up,' and is evident in practi- 
cally all work. Another temporary variation is the 
spwr^,whichmayoccur at anytime during the progress 
of a task, and is especially likely to occur near the end 
of the performance. It is due to the release of some 
additional energy not available throughout the per- 
formance of the task. As one nears the end of a 
piece of work, for example, the idea that the end is 
near serves as additional motive and a consequent 
release of energy results. This phenomenon is simi- 
lar to the effect of a pace-setter in a race. These four 
factors must always be taken into account, — habitua- 
tion, practice effects, warming-up and spurts. 

The tliree phases of fatigue. — There are usually 
three stages of fatigue: (1) In the first stage, the 
speed of work may increase, but the quality de- 
creases. (2) In the second stage, the quantity, as well 
as the quality, decreases. (3) In the third stage, 
exhaustion comes for some individuals, but in others 
there comes an increased excitement which enables 
them to do hurried and irregular work, but this is 



246 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

followed by exhaustion. These three stages are not 
always found, however, for there are individual vari- 
ations. Four types of workers have been made out. 
These types have been named from the form of curve 
that indicates their working efficiency. The first is 
known as the falling type ; the work curve of this type 
shows a steady decrease of speed and increase of 
errors. The rising type shows a steady decrease in 
the number of errors. The convex type shows an 
initial decrease of errors, then a steady increase. 
The concave type shows an initial increase, then a 
steady decrease of errors. Then, in addition to these 
different types, there are variations in fatiguability 
due to health and to age. The young are very easily 
fatigued, as are also those suffering from disease or 
illness, particularly from some neurotic disease. 
There is a pretty steady increase in ability to resist 
fatigue up to the age of puberty, setting in a year or 
two earlier for girls than for boys.* It is therefore 
argued that the work of adolescents should be les- 
sened. And, since this period starts in earlier for 
girls than for boys, girls and boys should not be edu- 
cated in the same classes. For at first, the boys are 
able to do more work, and later on they are more 
easily fatigued than are the girls. This greater 
fatiguability at the beginning of adolescence or pre- 
ceding it is borne out by the decreased resistance to 
disease. President Hall says: ''From thirteen to 
fifteen great reduction of school work for both sexes, 
but chiefly for boys, should be insisted on. No one 
should be allowed to go to school at all without nine 
hours of sleep and a ijearty appetite, for even pres- 

"For a discussion of this point, see Offner's Mental Fatigue, p. 78. 



FATIGUE 247 

ence in school impairs nutrition, arrests growth, 
starts neurotic habits and especially checks the de- 
velopment of the higher powers, which are the last 
to unfold."* 

Length of school sessions and school periods. — 
How long should a recitation period be? How long 
should a school session be ? These questions can not 
at present be answered with certainty. And, indeed, 
the length of school periods should never be definitely 
and absolutely fixed because of the varying circum- 
stances which produce fatigue. There is no good 
reason why a lesson period or a school session might 
not be shortened when the nature of the work or 
weather conditions are such as to bring on fatigue 
unduly early. However, there must be a length of 
period best suited, on the average, for children of 
the various ages. But there are not sufficient data at 
present for determining this average for children 
of the different ages or grades. This is a problem 
in school hygiene that demands immediate solution. 
Pending its solution by careful, scientific procedure, 
teachers can, by using the tests above described, de- 
termine provisionally the best length of lesson period 
and of school session. It seems safe to say, in the 
light of our present knowledge, that the present ses- 
sions are too long, at least for the younger children. 
From nine o'clock till twelve, with fifteen minutes 
intermission, is entirely too long for children of the 
lower grades, and there should be only a very short 
afternoon session for the younger children, or none 
at all. Of course, the proper length of a school ses- 
sion depends much on the nature of the work done 

♦G. S. Hall, Adolescence, 1904, Vol. I, p. 243. 



248 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

and the length and frequency of the pauses. Even 
the proper length of a recitation depends much on 
the teacher and the nature of the subject. The 
teacher who is capable of keeping the children work- 
ing at high pressure should have shorter periods and 
more frequent pauses than the teacher who gets work 
only at low pressure. These pauses should be spent 
in rest, and it is not rest to spend the time at some 
other hard mental work or at vigorous athletic or 
gymnastic exercise. If there is any play at rest 
time, it should be very light. Or, if children play hard 
at recess time, there should be a short time after 
recess for rest before the hard work of school be- 
gins. For it must not be forgotten that fatigue is 
fatigue, however caused. It is also more or less gen- 
eral, for the circulation scatters the fatigue poisons 
over the body, and it is also probable that the part of 
the body used drains the other tissues of energy sup- 
plying substance. It is no real rest, then, to turn 
from one kind of hard work to another, whether the 
work be mental or physical. It is true, of course, 
that one can turn from one kind of work to a differ- 
ent task and do the new work with more efficiency for 
a time. This is due to the novelty of the new work, 
to interest. The old subject or task becomes monot- 
onous and there is no longer sufficient motive to 
bring about good work. With the new subject or task 
there comes a new motive, and one can work at 
higher pressure, perhaps, for a short time, much as 
is the case when one nears the end of a task. In the 
latter case, and in spurts generally, there is tem- 
porarily additional energy released, making for bet- 
ter work even without changing to a new task. This 
can be true because of a motive that makes possible 



FATIGUE 249 

the use of additional energy, and in the case of 
change of task may be due to the fact that fatigue is 
to some extent local, in that it takes time for it to 
affect the system generally. Offner says, in discuss- 
ing the question of special and general fatigue: 
''Change of work also brings about recuperation 
oftentimes. If we mean by this statement that, when 
we resume a task that we have interrupted by some 
other form of activity, we then work considerably 
better than before the interruption — that, to speak 
more accurately, we enter upon the task again with a 
fresh supply of energy — then the statement is very 
much to be doubted. It can not be supposed that in 
our complicated psychophysical organism an activity 
of appreciable intensity can run its course in anypart 
without thereby affecting the functions of the other 
portions of the organism, and hence of the whole 
organism. Conversely, the less the active part be 
connected with the remainder of the organism, the 
more is it possible to limit its functioning to itself, 
the more slowly will the fatigue spread to the other 
parts, and the more possible will it be for the fatigue 
to take on the semblance of localised and isolated 
fatigue. * * * There is, then, such a thing as 
special fatigue, which we must look upon as a con- 
sumption of the constitutive material of the active 
organ — a process that in the very nature of the case 
is limited to the organ in question — and as a secre- 
tion of fatigue substance that accumulates at first at 
the point where the work is done. Nevertheless, 
there is no isolated fatigue. The fatigue substances 
do not remain where they are secreted, but are car- 



250 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

ried forth through the whole body by the ceaseless 
circulation of the blood."* The more specialised a 
piece of work is, then, the more slowly does fatigue 
become general. There is, indeed, local fatigue, but 
it is only a temporary stage, and general fatigue 
always ensues if the work is continued. In fact, at 
the beginning of the learning process in acquiring 
some new skill, it makes no difference how restricted 
the performance, — general fatigue comes quickly. A 
few years ago the author had occasion to learn the 
point alphabet of the blind. It was a terrible 
process, and he had to rest every fifteen minutes, and 
was quite exhausted at the end of an hour's work. 
When children are learning to draw and to write 
they doubtless suffer even greater fatigue. 

The pedagogy of fatigue. — The question of fatigue 
is of tremendous importance to education. If one is 
acquiring a new skill, it is high pressure work that 
is effective. In intellectual work, in acquiring new 
ideas, in memory work, in thinking, it is always at- 
tentive, high-pressure work that counts. Not only 
is this true in an individual task, but improvement is 
dependent upon work at the top of efficiency. In an 
experiment recently conducted by the author, two 
girls improved in learning capacity for four months, 
while a third made no improvement because she 
worked at low pressure. The work that counts most 
is the work that is done under the most favorable 
physical conditions. As far as any improvement is 
concerned, drill work should stop short of consider- 
able fatigue, should stop as soon as fatigue is notice- 



*M. Offner, Mental Fatigue, 1911, p. 94 ff. 



FATIGUE 251 

able. And as far as economy of work is concerned, 
there is little use in trying to learn after fatigue has 
become considerable. But, of course, there are times 
when one must disregard economy, when one must 
work to the point of exhaustion ; and as children grow 
older it should be part of their training to carry on 
work in the face of fatigue. It should be work, how- 
ever, at which they are skilful and in which they 
have power; it should not be in the initial stage of 
learning or of skill. Every adult who amounts to 
anything must work almost daily to the point of ex- 
haustion, and it would be a poor education that did 
not give training in endurance. The important thing 
here is that the teacher know the conditions of work 
and of fatigue. The children must have time to re- 
cover from fatigue, rest pauses during the day and 
sufficient sleep at night, with frequent vacations. The 
school year should not leave the child exhausted. The 
school ought to be of such a nature that it would pro- 
mote the health and growth of the child. A properly 
conducted school ought to leave the child in as good 
physical condition at the end as it was in the begin- 
ning. This can not be true if the work is so hard 
and the rest and sleep so little in amount that the 
child can not recover from fatigue day by day. The 
wise teacher will so distribute the work and play and 
rest as to get the best work out of the pupils and at 
the same time maintain the best of health. Sleep is 
a very important factor in maintaining health. A 
child seven to nine years old should have eleven 
hours sleep, from the age of ten to thirteen there 
should be ten hours of sleep, and at least nine hours 
sleep for adolescents. 



252 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOB, FUKTHER STUDY. 

1. Should a child be allowed to sleep till it naturally awakens? 

2. Is school work done by a child when mentally fatigued of 
any value? 

3. Take some poem that has stanzas of equal length and try 
committing to memory when very much fatigued. Commit to mem- 
ory an equal amount under good conditions and compare the 
results. 

4. Similarly test your memory for ideas. 

5. Does the reading of interesting tiction rest the mind after 
fatigue from hard work? 

6. Can a person who is fatigued from several hours of mental 
work play ball as well as when not so fatigued? Test the matter. 

7. Athletes often do poorly in school work. Is it because they 
use up all their energy in muscular work and have none left for 
mental work? 

8. What do you consider a proper distribution of mental and 
physical work for a university student? Make a plan showing this 
distribution. 

9. Why is it that a student should have plenty of physical 
work or play if muscular activity brings on fatigue that lessens 
one's ability to do mental work? 

10. Test out for yourself the matter of general and special fa- 
tigue for both mental work and physical work. Try learning one 
subject after being fatigued by another. Try doing one kind of 
muscular work after being fatigued by another. 

11. Do girls fatigue more easily than boys? 

12. Do one's interest and cheerfulness in his work have any- 
thing to do with fatigue? 

REFERENCES. 

T. Bolton, The Reliability of Certain Methods for Measuring the 
Degree of Patigue in School Children, in Psychological Review, 
Vol. vii, 136 ; A. C. Ellis and Maud Shipe, A Study of the Accuracy 
of the Present Methods of Testing Fatigue, in American Journal 
of Psychology, Vol. xiv, 496; W. James, The Energies of Men, in 
Philosophical Review, Vol. xvi, 1 ; F. S. Lee, The Nature of Fa- 
tigue, in Popular Science Monthly, Vol. Ixxvi, 182; H. D. Marsh, 
Tlie Diurnal Course of Efficiency, Columbia University Disserta- 
tion, New York, 1906; A. Mosso, Fatigue, English Tr., New York, 
1904; W. B. Pillsbury, Attention Waves as a Means of Measuring 
Fatigue, in American Journal of Psychology, Vol. xiv, p. 541; C. E. 
Seashore and G. H. Kent, Periodicity and Progressive Change in 
Continuous Mental Wcyrk, Psych. Rev., Mon. Sup., Vol. vi, No. 28, 
1905; W. S. Christopher, Chicago Public School Report on Child- 
Study Investigation, 1898-99, p. 38; F. W. Smedley, Report of 
Child-Study and Pedagogic Investigation, Chicago Public Schools, 
No. 2, 1899-1900, p. 64 fif. ; E. L. Thorndike, Mental Fatigue, ia 



FATIGUE 253 



Psych. Rev., Vol. vii, 4G6 ; Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 
ii, 61 ; F. L. Wells, Normal Performance in the Tapping Test Be- 
fore and During Practice, with Special Reference to Fatigue, in 
American Journal of Psychology, Vol. xix, 437 ; J. H. Wlmms. The 
Relative Effects of Fatigue and Practice Produced hy Different 
Kinds of Mental Work, in British Journal of Psychology, Vol. ii, 
153; W. H. Winch, Some Measurements of Mental Fatigue in 
Adolescent Pupils in Evening Schools, in Journal of Educational 
Psychology, Vol. i, 13; W. R. Wright, Some Effects of Incentives 
on Work and Fatigue, in Psych. Rev., Vol. xiii, 23; C. S. Yoakum, 
An Experimental Study of Fatigue, Psych. Rev., Mon. Sup., No. 
46. 1909. 

For extensive bibliography see Whipple's translation of Offner's 
Fatigue, p. 122 and p. 128. 



Chapter XVII. 
TESTS AND NORMS. 

Before we can deal intelligently with children we 
must have accurate information concerning their 
mental and physical natures. In this country, in the 
last few years, much progress has been made in the 
direction of medical inspection, although very little 
has been done in the way of mental and physical 
tests. And even what has been done in medical in- 
spection has not borne proper fruit, because, in most 
cases, notifying the parents of the conditions found 
and the publication of the statistical results was all 
that came of the inspection. Now, what is needed is 
something like the following: When a child enters 
school for the first time, accurate information should 
be obtained concerning its home and parents, accu- 
rate physical measurements and tests should be 
made, including a careful medical examination, and 
there should be such mental tests as it is possible to 
give. The data obtained should be recorded. The 
different forms of examination and tests should be 
repeated every six months during the school life of 
the child, and all the data recorded and as carefully 
kept as are the records at the court house. The medi- 
cal data should be obtained by a school physician, 
the mental and physical data can be obtained by the 

[254] 



TESTS AND XORMS 255 

teaciiers, but the tests ought to be under the direction 
of a psychological expert. 

For this work to be most valuable the tests given 
should be uniform throughout the country, and 
should be kept in similar form, so that when a child 
moves from one school district to another his record 
could be mailed to his new superintendent and would 
be perfectly intelligible. To make this possible there 
ought to be a national commission or committee to 
prepare the various mental tests from year to year 
and prescribe the methods of giving them and of 
keeping the data. Such data carefully obtained and 
recorded would be of inestimable value to the teach- 
ers of our schools in the actual teaching, and would 
at the same time be of great worth to the science of 
education. In the meantime the author suggests the 
following tests and forms of record. The records 
could be kept on heavy paper, 8 in. by 11 in. The 
mental, physical and school records could have 26 
columns from top to bottom, allowing for 24 semi- 
annual examinations and two extra spaces. The 
medical record sheet should have 13 spaces from top 
to bottom and be ruled also on the back. Then there 
should be one sheet for the entrance record. This 
plan would require five sheets for a child's complete 
record throughout its school life. The leaves could 
have perforations and be kept in the form of a loose- 
leaf note book, or they could be kept on the order of 
a card catalogue. The reverse sides of the mental 
and physical record sheets should be used for record- 
ing additional data not properly covered by the for- 



256 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

mal headings. The reverse of the school record sheet 
should contain the names of all the child's teachers, 
with the dates when they had charge of the pupil. 

Now, as to the data and methods of getting it : The 
headings of the medical record are self-explanatory. 
The mental and physical tests should be performed, 
on the whole, as prescribed in G. M. Whipple's Man- 
ual of Mental and Physical Tests. The Grip should 
be determined by the use of a Smedley dynamometer. 
The Tapping rate should be indicated by the number 
of taps in 30 seconds, determined by the use of a tap- 
ping instrument and described in Whipple's Man- 
ual, p. 100. The Lung capacity (also termed vital 
capacity) should be determined by the use of a ivet 
spirometer. The height should be determined by the 
use of a stadiometer, the weight by the use of accu- 
rate scales. The visual acuity can be determined by 
the teacher by the use of Test type, and should be 
recorded in the ordinary form used by oculists, — to 
illustrate: If a child reads at 20 feet distance the 
letters that a normal eye can read at 40 feet distance, 
the visual acuity should be recorded as 20/40. The 
auditory acuity may be determined by the watch test 
and could be recorded in similar form. To illustrate : 
Take the average of the class as the denominator of 
the fraction and the actual distance at which the 
child can just hear the watch tick as the numerator. 
But the best way to test hearing is by the use of a 
Pilling-McCallie audiometer. 

The best form of mental tests must be worked out 
by extensive experiments with school children as well 



TESTS AND NORMS 257 

as with adults. A good test is one that is simple, 
easily given and easily graded, and that gives a high 
correlation with other tests. After giving various 
tests to several thousand-school children and to a small 
number of adults, I recommend, provisionally, the 
followings tests and procedure as fulfilling the above 
requirements: For attention, the "A" test as de- 
scribed in Whipple's Manual, p. 254. The time al- 
lowed for the test was one minute. Whipple's for- 
mula for determining efficiency was used and the re- 
sult divided by eight, to reduce the grade to about 
the same scale of the other grades, as shown in the 
accompanying table. For association should be used 
Whipple's test for uncontrolled association and the 
three controlled association tests, namely, the part- 
ivliole, the genus-species and the opposites test. 
These tests are described in Whipple's Manual under 
tests 33 and 34. The time allowed for the uncon- 
trolled association test was 3 minutes, for the genus- 
species test, 45 seconds, for the part-whole test, 30 
seconds, and for the opposites test, 90 seconds. The 
grade recorded in the table for association is the sum 
of the four results of these separate tests. For rote 
memory, the words given on p. 204 in this book can 
be used. In grading, allow one point for each word 
and one point for its correct position. Add up the 
points for both abstract and concrete memory and 
divide by 2, to obtain the grades as recorded in the 
table. For logical memory, Whipple's Marble Statue 
test may be used,— described in the Manual, p. 397. 
One point is allowed for each idea correctly reported 



258 THE OUTLINES OP EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

by the child. The sum of these points gives the grade 
as recorded in the table. Of course, this test cannot 
be used a second time with the same pupils. This is 
true for most of the mental tests, and they will, there- 
fore, have to be replaced from year to year. For 
imagination, the ink-blot test, Whipple's Manual, p. 
430, may be used. The children are allowed one min- 
ute to write the things that are suggested by each 
ink-blot. The grade recorded in the table is the total 
of all the objects suggested by the blots. This test 
is better as a qualitative study of imagination than 
it is as a quantitative determination of imaginative 
capacity. Since the test was not given to many sub- 
jects, the grades of boys and girls are combined. A 
somewhat different test of imagination, especially 
of what is known as constructive imagination, is the 
word-building test, described by Whipple in the Man- 
ual, p. 441, and recorded in our table as invention. 
In the latter test we used both lists of letters, a, e, o, 
b, m, t and e, a, i, r, 1, p. Five minutes were allowed 
for each list, and the grade given in the table is the 
sum of the words written in the two tests. For 
learning, Whipple 's two substitution tests, A and B, 
are used. The method of giving the tests, however, 
was not that described by Whipple, but modified as 
follows: The pupils were given test form A and 
allowed eight^ minutes to fill in the blanks. At an- 
other time they were given test form B and allowed 
eight minutes to fill in the blanks. In grading the 
work, one point was allowed for each blank correctly 

*This time has proved too long for the older pupils, 10 minutes 
for the younger and 5 for the older pupils would be better. The 
number of characters per minute might be taken as the grade. 



TESTS AND NORMS 



259 



filled in. Add together the grades for the two tests 
and divide by 2 to get the results recorded in the 
table. This is one of the best of all the tests, easily 
given, easily graded, and it is a good criterion of a 
pupil's ability. The school records should be re- 
corded in the form of rank, the one making the high- 
est record being ranked 1, the next highest 2, and so 
on. Or better still would be to take the actual grade 
of the pupil and transfer it to a basis of an average 
of 50. This can be done by dividing 50 by the actual 
average of the class and then multiplying by the 
actual number of units accomplished by the pupil 
tested. This method really combines in one number 
both grade and rank.* In the mental tests the actual 
standing of the pupil can be recorded and compared 
with the table (pp. 260-261). 

♦See A. P. Weiss, On Methods of Mental Measurement, Especially 
in School and College, in Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol, 
II, p, 555, 



40 



30- 



20 



51 



^) 



^y 



4y 

lental Lffi'ciency of Boys and Girls 
by ages 



Age 



6 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 17 13 



260 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 



NORMS OF MENTAL CAPACITY. 
Boys. 



Age 8 9 10 11 

Tests : No. Av. No. Av. No. Av. No. Av. 

Learning 9 27.0 35 27.0 30 27.5 40 34.6 

Logical memory 61 23.9 75 31.0 92 31.0 103 33.2 

Rote memory 5 29.0 30 37.9 30 52.5 50 47.5 

Attention, A test 20 23.3 10 24.4 28 31.6 

Association 10 25.6 37 31.6 31 38.4 37 42.1 

Imagination ink-blots 2 23.5 20 46.6 25 40.5 45 43.5 

Invention 17 17.5 11 17.5 19 19.7 

Total mental efficiency 25.8 30.7 33.1 36.0 

mrls. 

Age 8 9 10 11 

Tests : No. Av. No. Av. No. Av. No. Av. 

Learning 29 20.0 54 31.5 30 31.3 49 38.2 

Logical memory 46 26.7 86 31.8 87 34.3 115 35.6 

Rote memory 16 29.0 38 37.0 37 42.0 67 39.5 

Attention, A test 18 16.0 24 28.0 21 30.0 26 38.0 

Association 28 27.6 50 35.7 35 38.7 46 48.5 

Imagination ink-blots 2 23.5 20 46.6 25 40.5 45 43.5 

Invention 17 17.5 11 17.5 19 19.7 

Total mental efficiency 28.2 32.6 33.5 37.6 



TESTS AND NORMS 261 



NORMS OF MENTAL CAPACITY. 
' Boys. 



12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Gen. 

No. Av, No. Av. No. Av. No. Av. No. Av. No, Av. No. Av. Av. 

27 39.3 33 39.5 46 46.1 10 46.0 5 47.2 16 49.0 8 48.0 39.2 

109 36.5 111 38.5 94 37.5 63 37.4 42 36.6 35 37.1 19 40.7 34.8 

56 40.0 56 42.5 55 43.5 35 44.2 36 47.2 29 49.5 11 54.0 44.3 

13 39.0 21 39.0 19 51.1 11 55.0 10 64.1 9 62.0 4 70.5 46.0 

21 46.4 48 47.2 32 52.3 12 55.8 17 54.8 16 68.1 8 72.7 48.6 

21 43.8 39 62.0 12 31.5 12 31.5 12 34.2 14 33.3 11 31.0 38.3 

16 23.1 14 25.8 21 22.2 18 24.0 16 33.6 21 34.5 11 35.8 25.3 

38.3 42.1 40.6 42.0 45.4 47.6 50.4 39.5 
Girls. 



12 




13 




14 




15 




16 




17 




18 


Gen. 


No. 


Av. 


No. 


Av. 


No. 


Av. 


No. 


Av. 


No. 


Av. 


No. 


Av. 


No. 


Av. 


Av. 


41 


44.2 


41 


46.2 


42 


48.0 


23 


46.3 


2 


50.0 


16 


46.3 


9 


48.7 


40.9 


134 


38.0 


117 


40.1 


107 


40.2 


77 


41.0 


70 


39.7 


58 


39.4 


25 


42.1 


37.2 


64 


41.0 


59 


43.0 


78 


44.5 


49 


46.7 


63 


46.8 


51 


51.5 


20 


52,7 


43.1 


20 


45.2 


16 


51.3 


23 


55.7 


13 


68.0 


13 


70.2 


16 


62.3 


8 


64.9 


51.3 


39 


52.6 


38 


49.6 


38 


58.3 


18 


63.3 


23 


65.6 


32 


70.9 


16 


74.3 


53.2 


21 


43.8 


39 


62.0 


12 


31.5 


12 


31.5 


12 


34.2 


14 


33.3 


11 


31.0 


38.3 


16 


23.1 


14 


25.8 


21 


22.2 


18 


24.0 


16 


33.6 


21 


34.5 


11 


35.8 


25.3 




41.1 




45.4 




42.9 




45.8 




48.6 




48.3 




49.9 


41.3 



262 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 



ENTRANCE RECORD. 

The record on this page is to be filled out when the child first 
enters school, and should be made as complete and accurate as 
possible. Besides the information called for, any other facts may 
be added. And later such facts should be added as the death of a 
parent, removal from one city to another, etc. And the date when 
the child has the various children's diseases should be entered here, 
together with the permanent effects of such diseases. 

Date of birth : Yr Mo Day 

Name in full 

Place in family (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.). 

Father's name Year of his birth 

Place of his birth Occupation Health 

Mother's name Year of birth 

Place of birth Number of children 



TESTS AND NORMS 



263 



MEDICAL RECORD. 
Mo 



Date of birth : Yr 

Name in full 

Vaccination record (state whether successful) 



.Day. 



If the child has a disease between the regular times for school 
inspection, the disease, with the date, should be recorded. 



4] 

2 


d 


3 

01 a 
?. 




©a CI 

ajjj a 

Q 


ra 

° on 

4 aj 0) 
.-MO) 

Q 


"3 
.2'Otj 

0) fl a> 


g 
to 

m 
■5 

H 


Diseases of 
mouth and 
tnroat and 
speech defects. 


S 

m 

a> 
m 

•3 
a 
!S 
m 


01 

2.1 


B 

CQ 

e5 

m 













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































264 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 



Date of birth: 
Name in full. 



Tr. 



PHYSICAL RECORD. 
Mo 



.Day. 





Height, Cm. 


ti) 
M 

♦J 

Xi 




Grip. 


Tapping 
rate. 


Visual 
acuity. 


Auditory 
acuity. 




M 

a 
•3 

a 
B 


a 
53 


«• 
Qi 


J 


« 

Q 


« 


J 


s 


J 




J 





































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































TESTS AND NOEMS 



265 



MENTAL RECORD. 
Mo 



.Day. 



Date of birth : Yr 

Name in full 

Record standing by rank, disposition by a word. 



a 

C 


d 
o 

a 

<U 


a 
o 

n 

> 
a 


d 
.2 
% 

*o 
O 

m 

CD 


a <j 

1^ 


o 

a 


ga 
ga 


d 

o 

a 

a 


aa 

O 8J 

i: a> 

in Ot 

aS 

5 























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































266 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 



Date of birth: 
Name in full. 



SCHOOL RECORD. 
(Standing in Branches Studied.) 
Yr Mo Day. 



The names of the various school branches are to be filled in in 
ink and the pupil's standing recorded in the form of rank in class, 
1 representing first in class ; 2, second in class, and so on ; deport- 
ment as excellent, good, medium, bad, very bad. 



p 


11 


















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































TESTS AND NORMS 267 



NoBMS OF Standing and Sitting Height, in Cm. (Smedlky). 

Standing Height. Sitting Heiglit. 

Age. Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. 

6.0 110.69 109.66 62.40 61.72 

6.5 113.25 112.51 63.54 62.90 

7.0 115.82 115.37 64.67 64.07 

7.5 118.39 118.22 65.78 65.25 

8.0 120.93 120.49 66.75 66.34 

8.5 123.48 122.75 67.72 67.43 

9.0 126.14 125.24 68.79 68.32 

9.5 128.80 127.74 69.85 69.21 

10.0 130.91 130.07 70.56 70.05 

10.5 133.03 132.41 71.26 70.89 

11.0 135.11 135.35 72.10 72.23 

11.5 137.19 138.30 72.93 73.58 

12.0 139.54 141.31 73.80 74.93 

12.5 141.89 144.32 74.70 76.29 

13.0 145.54 147.68 76.24 77.91 

13.5 149.09 151.04 77.79 79.54 

14.0 151.92 153.64 79.21 80.99 

14.5 154.74 156.24 80.64 82.43 

15.0 158.07 156.83 82.18 83.21 

15.5 161.41 157.42 83.68 83.99 

16.0 164.03 158.30 85.43 84.54 

16.5 166.65 159.18 87.17 85.09 

17.0 167.85 159.26 88.16 85.20 

17.5 169.04 159.34 89.14 85.30 

18.0 171.23 159.42 90.30 85.51 

18.5 173.41 159.50 91.46 85.72 

NoBMS OF Weight, in Kg., with Clothing (Smedley). 

Age. Boys. Girls. Age. Boys. Girls. 

6 19.738 18.870 13 38.084 38.974 

7 21.613 20.974 14 42.696 44.219 

8 23.817 23.010 15 47.993 48.161 

9 26.336 25.257 16 53.238 50.652 

10 28.707 27.795 17 57.384 52.386 

11 31.223 30.662 18 61.283 52.923 

12 34.151 34.373 



268 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 
NoBMS OF Lung (Vital) Capacity (Smkdlet). 



Age. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Age. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


6 


1023 


950 


13 


2108 


1827 


7 


1168 


1061 


14 


.... 2395 


2014 


8 


1316 


1165 


15 


2697 


2168 


9 


1469 


1286 


16 


.... 3120 


2266 


10 


1603 


1409 


17 


3483 


2319 


11 


1732 


1526 


18 


3655 


2343 


12 


1883 


1064 









Norms of Strength of Geip, in Kg. (Smedley). 

, Boys. , , Girls. , 

Age. Rt. baud. L. band. Rt. hand. L. hand. 

6 9.21 8.48 8.36 7.74 

7 10.74 10.11 9.88 9.24 

8 12.41 11.67 11.16 10.48 

9 14.34 13.47 12.77 11.97 

10 16.52 15.59 14.65 13.72 

11 18.85 17.72 16.54 15.52 

12 21.24 19.71 18.92 17.78 

13 24.44 22.51 21.84 20.39 

14 28.42 26.22 24.79 22.92 

15 33.39 30.88 27.00 24.92 

16 39.37 36.39 28.70 26.56 

17 44.74 40.96 29.56 27.43 

18 49.28 45.01 29.75 27.68 

Norms of Tapping Rate (Smedley). 

No. , Boys. > No. , Girls. > 

Age. tested. Rt. hand. L. hand. tested. Rt. hand. L. hand. 

8 31 147 117 31 146 117 

9 60 151 127 44 149 118 

10 47 161 132 48 157 129 

11 49 109 141 48 169 139 

12 44 170 145 50 169 140 

13 50 184 156 45 178 153 

14 40 184 155 67 181 157 

15 37 191 169 48 181 159 

16 21 196 170 50 188 167 

17 13 196 174 40 184 162 

18 3 197 183 24 193 169 

The records in the above table represents the number of taps In 
30 seconds. The number tested, however, is so small that the table 
is not very reliable. 



APPENDIX. 
The Development of the Instincts. 

If we could make out a table showing the orderly appearance of 
the instincts and the periods of their dominance, we could then 
arrange the curriculum of the schools to correspond to the in- 
stinctive activities. But the matter is not simple. The time of 
first appearance of the various instincts varies much according to 
the reported observations, and their periods of dominance vary still 
more. The appearance of an instinctive action, even after the 
structures are ready for it, depends upon the appearance of the 
situation that normally calls forth the particular form of response. 
There is a variation of a year or two in the maturing of the struc- 
tures that underlie the instincts. And even after the first appear- 
ance of an instinct the future course is entirely dependent upon 
experience. An instinctive tendency may be early subdued, or it 
may be strengthened and perpetuated. The nearest we can come 
to a solution of the problem is to determine by statistical studies 
the time when, on the average, an instinctive tendency is at its 
height, and in some cases this may be sufficiently definite to be of 
value to education. But only in a broad way can the instincts 
determine the order of the curriculum. The individual, adaptive 
and environmental instinctive tendencies are all operative when 
the child enters school, and can be depended upon to furnish motive 
and initiative. The social tendencies are also operative and grow 
in strength steadily till maturity. The fact is that other factors 
are more important in determining the arrangement of the curricu- 
lum. As far as his instincts are concerned, we may teach a six 
year old boy about stars, bugs, flowers, weeds, stones, rivers and 
mountains, and wise teaching doubtless teaches something about 
all these things from the beginning. Since the appearance is vari- 
able, and since the strength of instinctive tendencies is dependent 
upon experience, and therefore varies immensely for different indi- 
viduals, the teacher will have to ascertain for each individual case 
what instinctive tendencies will function best to furnish initiative 
and motive. At any rate, the instincts will have to be taken into 
the laboratory and worked out with a great deal more care than 
has ever been used in their study before we can do anything more 
than indicated. However, it may be worth while to give in brief 
form the results of various studies of instincts and the emotive 
instinctive responses : 

Imitation. — First appearance, 59th day (reflex), 171st day (vol- 
untary). Dearborn; in 2nd half of first year, Kirkpatrick ; 6th or 
7th month, Baldwin; 15th week, Preyer; 237th day, Major; 4th 
month. Sully. Most prominent 4th to 7th year, Kirkpatrick. 

Play. — In the second quarter of first year, Kirkpatrick, Major, 
Shinn; 341st day. Dearborn. Normally, always operative later. 

Migrating. — 1st to 3rd or 4th year, Kline ; 2nd or 3rd year, Kirk- 

[269] 



270 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 



Patrick ; must be subdued by early adolescence or may become per- 
manent tendency. 

Collecting. — Not later than the 3rd year, Burk ; in the 2nd year, 
Kirkpatrick. At its height at 10, Burk. 

Construction. — Appears, 9th month. Sully ; 13th month, Tiede- 
mann ; 14th month, Major. Interest in construction is prominent 
throughout school life, normally. 

Rivalry. — According to Kirkpatrick, appears in the 4th or 5th 
year. It may be relied upon to function throughout child-life. 

Sympathy. — 7th and 8th month, Tracy ; 12th month. Sully ; 22nd 
month, Baldwin ; 27th month, Major ; 3rd year, Kirkpatrick. Later 
responses are largely due to experience and training. 

Pride. — 19th month, Preyer. 

Fear. — First appears, 2nd month, Tracy and Shinn ; 3rd month, 
Major ; 4th month, Dearborn and Preyer ; 7th month. Sully ; 1st 
year, Kirkpatrick. Fear is greatest in 3rd and 4th years, accord- 
ing to Kirkpatrick. 

Anger. — In young babies, Kirkpatrick ; 10th month, Darwin and 
Preyer ; 2nd month, Perez. 

Curiosity. — 22d week, Preyer. Under proper conditions, curiosity 
functions throughout school life. 

It will be seen from the above that all the important instinctive 
tendencies, except the socialistic, function normally throughout the 
school life of the child. The strength of these tendencies depends 
upon the demands made upon them in the experience of the child. 
The older and more fundamental to the life of man the tendency, 
the more independent it is of experience. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Achilles, 54. 
Active attention, 208. 
Acquired characters not In- 
herited, 29. 
Activity in education, 16. 
Addams, Jane, 64. 
Adolescent play, 101. 
Advisor of clubs, 65. 
Aeneid, 54. 
Aim of Education, 2. 
Aim of moral training, 166. 
Affection, pleasant in habits, 130. 
American Indian, Migrations of, 

76. 
Ancient languages, 159. 
Anger, 55. 
Appleton, L. E., 97. 
Art, 225. 

Association of ideas, 221. 
Association, determinants of, 

223. 
Associations and memory, 192. 
Atavism, 28. 
ATTENTION, 206. 
Attention, 

function of, 211. 

and fatigue, 240. 

less with habituation, 129. 

meaning of, 206. 

and symbols, 218. 
Attitude in habit, 142. 
Automatisms, breaking of, 157. 

Biological results of habitua- 
tion, 126. 

Biology, background of psy- 
chology, 13. 

Birds, migrations of, 75. 

Body and mind, 17. 

Brain, function of, 92. 

Bright child active, 93. 

Bryan, harangue vs., 54. 

Cancellation method. 243. 
^ Capacity for work, 240. 
Cayuga lake, 49. 

Childhood and habituation, 141. 
Child, impregnable, 44. 
Children's troubles, 62. 
Chums, 63. 



Clubs, bad effects of, 64. 
benefits of, 64. 
and collecting instinct, 85. 

Co-efficient of learning, 202. 

COLLECTING INSTINCT, 83. 

Collecting instinct, 

development of, 83. 
use in school, 84. 

Collections, 84. 

Combined method in determin- 
ing fatigue, 243. 

Competition, 57. 

Completion method in determin- 
ing fatigue, 243. 

Computation method in deter- 
mining fatigue, 242. 

Committing to memory, 193. 

Conditions of drill, 151. 

Consciousness, 18. 

Consistency with children, 153. 

Continuous work method In de- 
termining fatigue, 244. 

Contrary suggestion, 118. 

Copying method in determining 
fatigue, 243. 

Country school, 86. 
" Cramming, 195. 

Darwin, Charles, 15, 126. 
Defectives, should be removed 

from school, 118. 
Determine the child's world, 10. 
Development, 16. 
Discussions, futile in morals, 

165. 
Disease not inherited, 29. 
Dressing and feeding of child, 

141. 
Drill, 149. 

Drills, should be short, 142. 
Dynamic view of world, 14. 
Education as adjustment, 9. 
Education not scientific, 2. 
Educational process, 5. 
Educational psychologist, 8. 
Educational psychology, 7. 
Emotions and morals, 178. 
Endurance due to habituation, 

129. 



[273] 



274 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 



ENVIRONMENTAL 

INSTINCTS, 74. 

Esthesiometry, 242. 
Eugenics, 31. 
Evolution of body, 13. 
Evolution and education, 15. 
Evolution of mind, 15. 
Exceptions, in habit-formation, 

152. 
Excess energy theory of play, 96. 
Experience, 222. 
Expression, 10. 
Extra digits, 28. 
Family fireside, must be re- 
vived, 69. 
Farming, scientific, 1. 
V FATIGUE, 239. 

Fatigue, less w^lth habituation, 
128, 131. 

nature of, 239. 
pedagogy of, 250. 
poisons, 240. 
symptoms of, 240. 
Fatiguability, types of, 246. 
Fear, 50. 

expression of, 52. 
objects of, 51. 
Fighting Instinct, 54. 
Fighting among boys, 56. 
Fighting, agreements as to, 56. 
Fixity in morals, 181. 
Forbush, 64. 
Fraternities, 69. 
Function of teacher, 146, 199. 
Galton's law, 27. 
Gang instinct. 61. 
Gangs and clubs, 64. 
Gangs, why formed. 66. 
General culture. 160. 
George Junior Republic, 70. 
Germ-plasm theory. 26. 
Girls and memory. 187. 
Gregariousness, 61. 
Gravity, center of, in education, 
174. 

HABIT, 124. 

Habit, and attitude, 142. 

and education, 131, 146. 

ethics of, 134. 

function of, 126. 

nature of, 124. 

flywheel of society, 135. 



Habit-formation, laws of, 136. 
Habit-forming, rules for, 154. 
Habituation and fatigue, 245. 
Habituation a growth, 150. 
HABIT AND MORAL TRAIN- 
ING, 164. 
Habits are specific, 158, 159. 
Habituation, principles of, 153. 
Hall, G. S., 50, 57, 96, 247. 
HEREDITY, 24. 
Heredity, 

force of, 31. 
laws of, 27. 
limitation of, 29. 
meaning of, 24. 
mechanism of, 25. 
Heritage, our, 167. 
Honor and fighting, 57. 
Home life and the street gang, 

68. 
Ideals of action, 171. 
Ideals, children's, 119. 
Ideational types, 196. 
Iliad, 54. 
Imagination, 224. 
IMITATION, 108. 
Imitation, and adaptation. 111. 
in animals, 109. 
basis of education, 112. 
definition of, 108. 
development of. 111. 
function of. 111. 
and habit, 138. 
and infancy, 110. 
as interpretation. Ill, 115. 
and language, 113, 114. 
Impression, first, 190. 
Improvement, none in low pres- 
sure work, 250. 
Industrial education, 20. 
Infancy, 9. 
Inhibition, 172. 
INSTINCTS, 35. 
Instincts, 

in chickens, 37. 
classification of, 44. 
defined, 35. 
Individualistic, 48. 
in man, 38, 
and morals, 168. 
and reflexes, 37. 
specialisation of, 42. 



INDEX 



275 



Isolated fatigue, 249. 

James, Wm., 51, 125, 135* 
Johnson, G. E., 96. 

Latin, why studied, 161. 
Lawful environment means a 

lawful child, 169. 
Law, meaning of, 14. 
Learning curve, 136. 
Learning by wholes, 193. 
Long infancy, 30. 
Loss of body parts, 92. 
Lower animals and training, 9. 
Lower animals, migrations of, 

74. 

Manipulation of environment, 

169. 
Manual training, 20. 
Mastery of details, 148. 
Mathematical habits, 160. 
Meaning, 232. 

and education, 233. 
Measure of fatigue, 241. 
Medicine, scientific, 1. 
Mechanism, the body as, 18. 
MEMORY, 185. 
Memory, and age, 186. 

curve, 188. 

experiments in, 186. 

and intelligence, 199. 

material, 194. 

meaning of, 185. 

method of, in fatigue, 242. 

and practice, 189. 

and sex, 186. 
Mental evolution, 8, 15. 
Mental heredity, 28. 
Method, basis of, 6, 8. 
Mendel's law, 27. 
Migrations, early, 76. 
Migrations and school, 81. 
MIGRATORY INSTINCT, 74. 
Migrations and the home, 82. 
Migrations of man, 76. 
Mind, brain, muscle, 18. 
Mollycoddles, 103. 
Motive, 149. ,__—— 



Moral training, nothing new In, 
178. 

Moral training and psychology, 
165. 

Mosso, A., 240. 

Miinsterberg, H., 214, 217. 

Muscular activity, end of edu- 
cation, 20. 

Muscles and nerves trained, 18. 

Muscles and brain, 91. 

Museums, school, 85. 

Natural heredity, 30. 
Natural selection, 32. 
Nature of children, 4. 
Nature study, 17. 
Neatness, habits of, 158. 
Nervous system and attention, 

211. 
Nest-building, 35. 
Neurology and attention, 206. 
Norms, mental, 260-1. 
physical, 267-8. 

Offner, M.. 239, 240. 246, 250. 
Origin of species, 15. 

Pace-setting, 245. 

Pangenesis, 26. 

Parks, 68. 

Parents, associates of children, 
173. 

Parents and fear, 52. 

Parents and laws of habit-for- 
mation, 154. 

Passive attention, 208. 

Pauses in school work, 248. 

Periodicity of instincts, 39. 

Personal hygiene, 175. 

Phases of attention. 208, 

Phases of fatigue, 245. 

Philosophy student, 159. 

Physical condition and memory, 
192. 

Physiological methods in fa- 
tigue, 223. 

Plasticity, 133, 180. 

PLAY, 91. 



276 THE OUTLINES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 



Play, of adults, 104. 
and drill, 102. 
and fatigue, 248. 
and morals, 101. 
pedagogy of, 102. 
and work, 103. 
Play Instinct, development of, 

98. 
Pleasurable repetition, 140. 
Possibilities of parents and 

teachers, 43. 
Practice, 149. 
Practice effects, 226. 
Primitive moral training, 170. 
Professional habits, 159. 
Procedure in habituation, 147. 
Promptness at school, securing, 

155. 
Psychic life and muscular ac- 
tion, 92. 
Psychological methods in fa- 
tigue, 242. 
Psychological results of habitua- 
tion, 129. 

Reasoning, 226. 

training in, 228. 

training in, specific, 231. 

and education, 234. 
Recapitulation and heredity, 26. 
Records, 255, 202-6. 
Repetition, 136. 

in attention, 140. 

in memory, 190. 

in moral training, 172. 
Rest by change of worlj, 248. 
Rest from practice, 151. 
Retention, 190. 
Riis, J., 64. 
Rising early, 157. 
Roosevelt, 54. 
Rowe, S. H., 151, 154. 

Salmon, migrations of, 74. 
Savagery in children, 49. 
Schiller, theory of play, 96. 
School and home, 173. 
School management, 116. 
School sessions, length of, 247. 
Schools should not exhaust 
child, 251. 



Seals, migrations of, 74. 
Securing practice, 156. 
Sensitivity and fatigue, 240. 
Sensory clearness, 207. 
Skill due to habit, 127. 
Small differences, 31. 
Smoking, breaking habit of, 157. 
Social heredity, 30. 
Social inheritance, 115. 
SOCIAL INSTINCTS, 61. 
Social instincts and the school, 

67. 
Spalding's studies, 37. 
Special fatigue, 249. 
Speed and habit, 137. 
Spencer, H., theory of play, 96. 
Spirit of club, 65. 
Spurts, 245. 

Static view of world, 14. 
Sympathy, 70. 

Tadpoles, migrations of, 75. 
Teacher and the instincts, 42. 
Teacher and fear, 53. 
TESTS AND NORMS, 254. 
Theater in the school, 116. 
Theories of play, 94. 
THINKING, 221. 
Thinking, defined. 226. 
Time and place for practice, 

151, 156. 
Titchener, E. B., 195, 209. 
Training in attention, 213, 215. 
Tramps, 79. 
Truancies, 78. 
Truancies, causes of, 79. 
Typewriting, 139. 

Unit characters, 27. 
Unit characters of mind, 28. 
Usefulness of studies, 161. 
Utilizing gang instinct, 65. 

Variability of instincts, 36, 

Warming-up, 245. 
Weismann, 26. 
Will and muscles, 93. 
Winter, learn to swim in, 126. 
Women, education of, 174. 



NOV 21 1912 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 763 088 5 



